This week's show features our host Ron Callis interviewing Miranda Grantham and Marc Fisher. Recorded live on Friday, January 24, 2019, at 12:30 pm EST.

About Miranda Grantham and Marc Fisher

Miranda has been with Origin Acoustics as their National Sales Manager for three years and quickly climbed to her National Sales Manager by age 24. Miranda started in the AV Industry with Metra Electronics at age 22 as a West Coast Regional. She was elected Top 40 under 40 at age 26 and recently elected as one of the most powerful women on the rise in consumer technology.

Marc is a consumer electronics veteran and joined Origin Acoustics four years ago. Marc has been titled Salesman of the Year twice in a row and was twice named one of the “Top 40 under 40” by the industry’s leading trade publication. Now, President of Sales, Marc continues to set the standard for sales professionalism and endeavors to share those skills with an entirely new generation of salespeople who are following in his footsteps.

Interview Recap

This week's show features our host Ron Callis interviewing Brent McCall, Director of Product Development and Support of Metra Home Theater Group from his office located in Holly Hill, Fl. Brent is a AV industry veteran since 1977 where he started in retail and has most recently spent the last 12 years in HDMI product development and support. He has worked with thousands of integrators and brings tremendous experience and perspective to the current state of the industry. Brent is also an active forum member on IntegrationPros.org and RemoteCentral.com. Recorded Live on January 31st, 2018 at 12:30pm EDT.

About Brent McCall

Brent McCall has been in AV, 12 Volt and custom Installation since 1977. In that time he progressed from a floor salesperson to a custom integrator to (now) HDMI product development and support. His focus for the past 12 years has been HDMI and its ramifications to the custom integration professional. His work includes time in the field with dealer/installers and other hardware manufacturers.

Interview Recap

Here are some of the topics Ron had the opportunity to discuss with Brent:

• Brent’s background in the industry
• Brent’s current role at Metra Home Theater
• What’s new with HDMI
• 4K and 8K UHD
• And more!

In this interview, Ron Callis interviews Paul Harris, CEO/CTO of Aurora Multimedia Corp from his office Morganville, NJ. Watch the interview to learn about Paul's background, approach to product innovation and love for MMA. 

About Paul Harris

Paul Harris, CEO/CTO of Aurora Multimedia Corp, has been developing bleeding edge products for the A/V industry for over 25 years. Starting with the creation of real-time image rotation for videowalls to setting the bar with many world’s firsts with AV over IP and HDBaseT, Paul continues to push the limits of technology. He founded Aurora in 1998 and continues to develop integrator friendly solutions that meet the demand for today and the future.

Interview Recap

Here are some of the topics Ron had the opportunity to discuss with Paul:

• Paul's background in the industry and how he got started in AV
• After 25+ years in the industry, have things changed much?
• Being involved as one of the first companies to develop IP control and AV over IP
• Aurora Multimedia Corp's R&D process
• MMA and the recent Mayweather - McGregor fight
• And more

In this Automation Unplugged interview, Ron speaks with Blake Richetta, the Senior Vice President at sonnen, inc. sonnen is the future of clean energy - they provide energy storage solutions that are transforming the clean tech space. 

Blake breaks down the state of clean energy technology and the role that it will soon play in the AV and automation industry.

Watch Ron interview David Weinstein, the VP of Residential Sales at Lutron Electronics. David shared his insight on where the industry is heading, some of the main challenges and opportunities with lighting and shading, and a sneak peek of what’s coming up with Lutron and CEDIA. David offers some advice on how to take advantage of helpful resources provided by Lutron, such as ongoing training and marketing materials.

This week, we had the privilege of interviewing Nathan Holmes, Technical Trainer at Access Networks. The California-based company provides tailored enterprise-grade networking solutions for professional integrators throughout the United States. In his role as technical trainer, Nathan helps integrators succeed by guiding them in best practices and providing helpful resources. Nathan has nearly a decade of technical expertise within the custom integration industry.