Rob Gerhardt

In 1989, at the CEDIA formation meeting, Rob was elected to the first board of directors. Since then he has served as CEDIA's treasurer, vice-president and president.

Rob conceived and ran the first CEDIA Expo, serving as EXPO Chairman in 1990, 1992, 1993 and 1994. While president of CEDIA in 1994; Rob went out of business. His final presentation was "How to Learn from Failure" presented to over 600 attendees at the 1995 EXPO.

For the next eight years, Rob focused on the business of our industry. With the help of his business partner, they created two companies that continue to operate profitably in New England and Atlanta with a combined annual volume of over 11 million dollars.

Rob has made over 212 presentations at CEDIA Expo, Regionals, International Security Conference, Habitech, Security Associates, the Consumer Electronics Show as well as his own "Let's Actually Learn Something" series and a twenty-six city training tour for Crestron Electronics.

Rob has written or been featured in articles in The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, Popular Science, Audio Video Interiors, Electronic House, Security Dealer, Audio Video Retailer, CEPro and was the featured columnist in Residential RAVE. Rob is a Judge for the CEA's Mark of Excellence program and is a certified instructor for the AIA.

Rob and his team at Group Gerhardt composed, designed, illustrated, narrated, and created the online training programs for Crestron Electronics. Rob is co-author of the industry textbook "Customer Relations for Systems Integrators" from Thomson-Delmar publishing.

As a dealer, Rob has been involved in over 900 installations over a 34 year career. He has designed and sold over 37 million dollars in custom systems ranging in price from $80,000 to 3 million.

From the earliest days, Rob was a pioneer in the "Systems Integration" branch of this evolving industry. He formed the "Integrated Systems Council" for CEDIA in 1990 and championed the extension of installed systems beyond its entertainment origins to include the other disciplines of dimming control, security, comfort control and infrastructural systems within the home.

As both an installing dealer and now as a designer-trainer-consultant, Rob has observed the transition from the simple surround system in the family room to the integration of all systems within the home.

This transition has also altered the business challenges and opportunities as it relates to these more comprehensive endeavors. As the "electronic architect" on the other side of the table during hundreds of meetings, Rob has a unique, contemporaneous insight into the demands, opportunities and interactions between the architect, designer and integrator.