As the senior vice president of sales since 2007, Jim Arnold was the face of Control4 (Nasdaq: CTRL) for thousands of dealers who have adopted (and spurned) the home automation and A/V control company for nearly a decade.

Now Arnold is retiring, handing over the reins to Bryce Judd, who joins Control4 from with more than 20 years of technical sales and operations experience, primarily in mobile services and enterprise software.

In an interview with CE Pro, Arnold says his transition into retirement has been slow and deliberate, and he was intimately involved in finding a replacement.

The process, he says, was “very well planned, well thought-out and well-handled.”

The timing felt right to Arnold because “the company is in the best shape it’s ever been,” Arnold says, noting that dealers seem to feel more upbeat about Control4 than ever before. In the past two years the company has landed on top of the CE Pro 100 brand preference survey for home-control and several other categories.

Next: Control4’s Very First Dealers: What Were They Thinking?

In what may be the understatement of the decade, Arnold notes, “We worked really hard to get to this point.”

Control4 launched in 2004 with a little baggage and a slow start, but dealers “saw the vision,” says Arnold. “What they also wanted to know was there was a team there that cared about them, that had their back. That has been a part of who we are and what we do.”

Arnold plans to take some time off, travel and spend time with the family, he says, “but who knows? May I’ll wake up one day and say I need to do something.”

As for the new SVP of worldwide sales, Judd takes a personal interest in “electronics, technology for technology’s sake, fast cars and tinkering,” he tells CE Pro.

Other than that, he has a “passion for people, a passion for dealers,” he says. “I love helping partners grow their business and be successful. That’s also a passion of mine.”

Judd ran channel sales for many years at Sprint, where 50 percent of dealerships were privately owned. He moved to Motive, a broadband software provider that was acquired by Alcatel-Lucent (and ultimately Nokia), where he served for eight years as VP global sales and senior VP business operations and partnerships.

Arnold will continue in his current role through the end of June, after which he will serve as advisor to Control4 for the rest of the year. When Judd takes over at the end of the month, he plans to hit the road to meet with dealers and “understand what’s driving them and where they see the market going,” he says, “so we can make sure we build programs to enable them to be successful.”

Arnold, who expresses gratitude to the wonderful group of dealers he has come to know, says his team of 90 sales and technical field specialists will be ready to go on day one: “We’re not going to drop any balls.” 

Next Page: Control4 Press Release 

{pagebreak}page 2 of 2
<< previous

PRESS RELEASE

Control4 Appoints Bryce Judd as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales

SALT LAKE CITY — June 8, 2016 4:05 PM EST — Control4 Corporation (NASDAQ: CTRL), a leading global provider of smart-home solutions, today announced that it has hired veteran sales executive Bryce Judd as its Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales.  At the end of June, Mr. Judd will succeed Jim Arnold, who is retiring after serving as the company’s Senior Vice President of Sales since February 2007.  Mr. Arnold will continue to work with the Control4 team on an advisory basis through the end of the year in order to ensure a smooth transition.

Mr. Judd joins Control4 from Nokia Corporation’s subdivision, Motive Inc., where he led sales and business operations and drove the company’s annual revenue from $50 million to $500 million.

“We are pleased to welcome Bryce to the Control4 team to lead our worldwide sales organization,” said Martin Plaehn, chairman and chief executive officer.  “With his strong experience and track record of driving business growth through channel sales, partners, and consumer services, he is the ideal candidate to lead our global sales team to strengthen Control4’s channel presence and accelerate our business.” 

“I am excited and honored to join Control4 and its outstanding management and sales teams,” said Mr. Judd. “Building upon my experience driving global channel sales and services organizations, I plan to continue to serve and strengthen Control4’s field organization and its dealer and distributor network to sell and deliver Control4’s automation solutions to home and business owners worldwide.”

Mr. Judd has over 20 years of consumer and enterprise sales and operational experience, with a strong emphasis on technology solutions.  Mr. Judd assumed his position at Nokia though its acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent.  At Alcatel-Lucent, Mr. Judd was Vice President of Channel Sales and Business Development for Motive, Inc., a customer experience management software for connected devices and mobile services, including home automation and IoT (Motive was acquired by Alcatel-Lucent in 2008).  Prior to Motive, Mr. Judd served in various leadership roles from field sales and marketing to leading the channel sales organization at Sprint Nextel Corporation.  Mr. Judd graduated from the University of San Francisco with a B.S. in Economics, and earned an M.B.A. from the University of Virginia, Darden Business School.   

After 38 years of professional contribution, Mr. Arnold expressed his desire at the beginning of 2016 to retire during the year, and has been working closely with the executive team on recruiting his replacement and orchestrating a smooth transition.  Mr. Arnold joined Control4 in 2007 when the company had a sales team of 8 people and 350 dealers, and he has grown the business and his direct team to 90, including regional sales managers and technical field specialists, as well as over 3,600 direct dealers worldwide.

“Jim has been instrumental in architecting and driving Control4’s growth and leadership position in the CEDIA channel throughout his tenure with us,” said Mr. Plaehn.  “Among his many contributions, Jim helped position Control4 as the go-to product line and company for custom integrators worldwide.  Jim built, coached, and led a strong field-sales organization, and on behalf of all of us at Control4, we are deeply grateful to Jim for his consistent and significant contributions to our company.  We wish him the very best in his retirement.”

• Page 1