Phil Hawkins, General Manager at Qualifi, has quit and is set to join the Klipsch Group.
Hawkins a former Yamaha Australia executive is believed to have been one of the Qualifi executives who was aware of the axing of Qualifi as the distributor of Klipsch and Jamo products in Australia despite having a no compete clause in his contract.
Phil Hawkins pictured Centre qith Qualifi staff. STEREONet Picture
ChannelNews also understands that Peter Shanoon the National Sales Manager responsible for the Harvey Norman account and their relationship with Qualifi is also set to leave Qualifi next week, due to his involvement with the Klipsch Group and the setting up of a local subsidiary prior to Qualifi being given 90 days’ notice of termination of their distribution agreement.
Shanoon is believed to have not yet signed an employment contract with the Klipsch Group despite his relationship with Vince Bonacorsi VP & GM of Sales and Marketing, APAC, Australia and New Zealand.
Shanoon is Sydney based while Hawkins is based at Qualifi’ s head office in Melbourne.
We have also been told that the Klipsch Group which is part of Voxx International has also engaged a recruitment Company to find a General Manager to run the business in Australia.
According to sources the Klipsch Group is looking to expand their products in Australia with a possible deal with The Good Guys and JB Hi Fi, however this is not a “done deal” with Harvey Norman who have been the exclusive mass market seller of Klipsch products in Australia.
