Gary Luhrman has announced his retirement from Inovonics. The last day for the company’s sales and marketing manager was July 4.
Luhrman, 71, told Radio World he departs on good terms. He feels healthy and is in good spirits, but he felt it was time to start a new chapter by dedicating more time to family and pursuing creative interests.
He joined Inovonics in 2015 at the NAB Show, after 15 years in Spain, where he was country manager for BBC World Service Television.
Luhrman had to quickly immerse himself in the company’s gear. Customers were happy to give him pointers. “Everyone had a story about an Inovonics box that was still working after 20 years,” he recalled.
Now, he looks back proudly at the last 10 years. He has played a part in Inovonics’ transition from analog to digital, SDR-based products. “I learned what a great team we have,” he said.
He said he has developed new markets for the company in Asia, Latin America and Europe. “Most of all, I am happy to have developed good working relationships with customers all over the world,” he told us.
Inovonics President/CEO Ben Barber said Luhrman “worked hard to promote the Inovonics brand worldwide, with a particular emphasis on Latin countries,” boosted by Luhrman’s fluency in Spanish. “Inovonics and our industry wish him all the best.”
From Monterey to Madrid
Luhrman was born in Cupertino, Calif., a stone’s throw from Apple’s headquarters. He earned his B.A. in radio television at San Jose State University and started working at KWAV(FM) in Monterey. “It didn’t take long to realize I wasn’t going to get rich spinning vinyl,” Luhrman said.
So he went for his MBA in international business at the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Arizona. That opened up new opportunities for him, first in satellite distribution in Los Angeles, and eventually taking him to Madrid with the BBC.
While in Spain, Luhrman was also a founding partner of SmartGlobal, a European distributor of communications products.
As he exits the industry, he said that the radio medium remains an important technology and that the industry must continue to be supported. “When the power is out and there is an emergency, people turn to the radio,” he said.
Luhrman plans to spend time in the future traveling, organic gardening, swimming and playing music. The “bug” for radio clearly remains, as he also plans to get his amateur radio license.
Gary can be reached at his email address.
