Elkhart, IN - Jan 13, 2011 - Crown Audio has added new leaders to its senior management team. John Fitzgerald, vice president of program management at Harman Professional, will take the additional position of general manager for Harman's Elkhart, IN-based Amplifier Business Unit and will be responsible for all aspects of Crown Audio's business. John Batliner, vice president of sales for Harman's High Performance Audio Video group, will assume additional responsibilities as vice president of sales for Crown Audio and Matt Bush, previously director of sales for Crown Audio is appointed senior director of operations for Crown Audio.

As vice president of program management for Harman International in Farmington Hills, MI, Fitzgerald developed and managed a portfolio of corporate programs to improve quality, streamline base cost, and integrate newly acquired companies. As director, product engineering, Fitzgerald held leadership responsibilities for product development activities for the North American and Far East regions of the OEM division of Harman International. Fitzgerald also has international experience as director, product planning, senior manager Asian operations based in Nagoya, Japan, where he managed all Japan operations and developed the product-planning process to establish long term product strategies for all Asian customers. Prior to joining Harman, he was process/quality engineering manager at TRW Automotive Electronics and before that process engineer at Digital Equipment Corporation.

John Batliner is a sales leader with extensive experience and success in the professional audio and custom home markets. This includes five years as Asia Pacific sales manager with Shure followed by seven years as vice president of international sales at DBX in Salt Lake City. He has been an influential and effective leader in Harman's High Performance AV group since 1996.

Matt Bush joined Crown Audio in October 2008 after establishing an operations team at Harman's Sandy, UT, Signal Processing Business Unit, and was the architect of HMG's hybrid manufacturing and global supply chain strategies, directing all supply chain functions including a U.S. manufacturing facility, off-shore manufacturing, customer service, and distribution centers in the United States, Asia and Europe. He has also led group-wide programs in European logistics and key supplier negotiations, and has presented numerous times at Harman best-practice sessions.