Sarnoff’s Songbird Tries a New Tune
Corrections or additions?
This article by Barbara Fox was prepared for the July 24, 2002 edition of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Life in the Fast Lane
Some good news: Sarnoff Corporation and its partners
could get up to $24 million from the federal government to work on
three projects relating to defense technologies. These monies were
added to a House Defense Appropriations bill HR 5010 passed June 27,
and two of the three programs have been included in the Senate version
of the bill. “The odds of the bill’s passing are very high,”
says a spokesperson for U.S. Representative Rush Holt, who supported
the bill.
Included in both current versions of the bill are $7 million for a
Bug to Drug Identification and Countermeasures program (to combat
as yet-unknown biological warfare agents) and $8 million for the Applied
Communications and Information Networking (ACIN) program administered
at Fort Monmouth. ACIN pairs Department of Defense software developers
with their academic and industry peers to improve communication between
soldiers in the field and their command centers. Sarnoff partners
with Drexel University on this.
The third component, $5 million for digital motion imagery tools and
techniques, could get put back in the bill later this fall. This Digital
Video Laboratory program was established at Eglin Air Force Base last
year. It works on how motion imagery and related information is collected,
managed, and analyzed.
Top Of PageSarnoff’s Songbird Tries a New Tune
Disposable hearing aids were supposed to be the healthcare
innovation comparable to the discovery of sliced bread, but the investors
in Songbird Hearing, a Sarnoff spinoff, have been disappointed by
sales. So last week they brought in a turnaround CEO, Thomas E. Gardner,
to replace Fred Fritz, the founding CEO, who stays as vice president.
Sometimes a new name at the top is just what’s needed, and several
times Gardner has been the person brought in to kickstart a foundering
company. Gardner grew up in Toledo, and graduated in 1970 from the
University of St. Thomas. He has worked at Proctor & Gamble, Johnson
& Johnson, Simon & Schuster, Dun & Bradstreet, and Access Health.
As the turn-around CEO for Base Ten in 1997, Gardner turned to making
software for manufacturing drugs, while the defense arm of Base Ten
went forward as Strategic Technologies, (U.S. 1, November 12, 1997),
which was later sold at a profit. Two years later, at age 51, Gardner
resigned. The company struggled for another year and exists as a shell
corporation.
Gardner took another turnaround job as CEO of Datamonitor, a United
Kingdom-based business information company that offers research and
advice to Fortune 1000 clients. He arrived in February, 2000, and
in November of that year took the company public on the London Stock
Exchange. He left the company earlier this month to join Songbird.
“I’m a professional CEO — I take small start-up companies
and help them to get to the next stage of development,” says Gardner.
“To me this is a terrific opportunity. I haven’t seen one so attractive
since I helped take Tylenol into the consumer markets in 1975. There
is an unmet consumer need, and we have an innovative product that
will bring better hearing to the mild to moderately hearing impaired
— a market that is underserved.”
His game plan is to emphasize distribution through retail channels,
a partnership with the Boots drugstore chain in the United Kingdom
and with National Vision and Hearing, which is in Wal-Mart stores
in the United States. “Just as you can get eyeglasses at Wal-Mart,
so you will be able to get a hearing exam and buy our product at Wal-Mart,”
says Gardner.
Songbird Hearing Inc., 5 Cedar Brook Drive, CedarBrook Corporate Center, Cranbury 08512. 609-409-4500; fax, 609-409-4510.Thomas Gardner, CEO. Www.songbirdhearing.comTop Of PageManagement MovesThe current occupant of Base Ten’s former building onElectronics Drive has had a change in its CEO. Andy Quinn has replacedChuni Ghosh, founder of Princeton Optronics. Ghosh recently movedhis firm from Princeton-Hightstown Road to the former Base Ten building,where there are 54 employees (U.S. 1, August 8, 2001). “As thecompany prepares for product introduction of the PowerSweep 2000TMtunable laser, Andy’s industry experience will be critical in helpingto manage growth, expand the customer base, maintain financial discipline,and achieve our business goals,” says Ghosh.Quinn has roots in Lucent Technologies, where he directed the optoelectronicsgroup that is now part of Agere Systems. His most recent job was aspresident of North America and chief operating officer for BookhamTechnologies in the UK. He also founded Spectracom Inc., which wassold to ADC, and has worked for Nortel Networks.Quinn went to the University of Glasgow, Class of 1976. He joins ateam with several Lucent connections, including Timothy Hays, vicepresident of marketing, Joe Cannon, vice president of manufacturing,and Sunil Phatak, vice president of business development. Chris Lynch,chief financial officer, was formerly with Marriott and Merrill Lynch.Ghosh is a Sarnoff and ITT alumnus.Princeton Optronics, 1 Electronics Drive, Mercerville08619, Box 8627, Princeton 08540. Andy Quinn, CEO. 609-584-9696; fax,609-584-2448. Home page: www.princetonoptronics.comNext StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
