ETEC 522 – September 2012

Crestron – George Feldstein – Founder and Sole Owner

Crestron – in business for more than 40 years

Founder, sole owner and President of Crestron – George Feldstein (engineer)

George Feldstein started his own company in 1969 out of a room above Crestkill Delicatessen, New Jersey, when he got fired from an engineering company and decided that he could not work for anyone else.  At that point he had “no money, four kids, a mortgage, and a Dodge Dart” and the only equipment he had was his own tools (Ewalt, 2011).  He started off by designing controllers for slide projectors and doing anything for money.  The company really took off when he developed a “wireless remote for commercial audiovisual systems. Then came audio switches, video projectors and lighting control panels.” (Ewalt, 2011) Now the company is worth at least one billion dollars, with an annual income of $500 million. The company believes in development of new technologies and uses 15% of its profits towards the production of new products (such as energy management devices).

A majority of Crestron’s clientele are luxury home owners, but Crestron’s equipment can also be found in conference rooms at Microsoft, seven out of eight Ivy League schools, the penthouse at the Trump World Tower in New York, and the situation room at the Pentagon.  Crestron manufactures electronic control systems such as automated light, sound, and temperature controls, fancy digital screens and speakers for conference rooms, and classroom projectors (Ewalt, 2011). Crestron have educational products which are mostly used for classroom automation that include the following: CaptureLive HD (can schedule, record, publish, and view lectures or presentations in high-definition), FreeSpeech (wireless microphone), MediaManager (selects, transmits, and controls audio/video devices for classroom presentations), OnCue (directly connects to any projector), and IntelliClass (used for classroom presentations).  Crestron is trying to provide solutions to improve classroom learning and safety and has started a program called A+ Program for Education.  Clients in this partnership receive preferred pricing, extended warranties, and free training.

To this day, George Feldstein owns 100% of Crestron and will not be selling it off anytime soon.  It is a family affair, with his son, Dan, being the vice president of operations and his daughter, Wendy, director of engineering services.  He also has four key executives and 57 offices in 45 countries around the world, but the main operations buildings are found in Bergen County, New Jersey.  It consists of buildings for corporate management, manufacturing, training facilities, and a 100,000 square-foot research center.  Crestron has many partnerships with such groups as Government Support Services, Home Builders, hospitality partners, interior designing, and Integrated Manufacturers programs.  Crestron is also a member and participates in trade associations, business organizations, and affinity groups.  A list of these organizations can be found on their website.

I think that Crestron has worked as a company because of its founder, George Feldstein.  He initially would do any job to get the company off the ground and then came up with ventures that were not typical products.  He also targeted the right groups (such as luxury home owners) and then expanded to other organizations or businesses to buy their products.  George Feldstein can still be seen going through the operations, manufacturing, and research centers, creating a presence within the company.  He is still creating new technologies and promoting the production of new products.  The one thing that I could not find on the Crestron website was information about his board and advisors.  There was some mention of the use of engineers, programmers, architects, consultants, and designers, indicating the creation of jobs or affiliations with many people.  The website was very organized and had lots to offer someone who visited the site.

George Feldstein

References:

Crestron website: http://www.crestron.com/about/

Ewalt, D.M (2011). Crestron Electronics: A Made-In-America Success Story. Forbes Magazine.  Retrieved on September 27, 2012 from:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidewalt/2011/11/16/crestron-electronics-george-feldstein-manufacturing/