With a varied career, including experience as an aeronautic engineer and at a large investment bank, Amnon Harman has brought a great deal of business prowess to d&b. Under his 11-year leadership, the company has witnessed significant growth, going from 300 employees with a €67M turnover to a staff base of 1,100 and a €320M revenue.
“I think a common theme when you look back at all the jobs I’ve had is that I’m good at aiding in growth and change management, bringing a team from A to Z,” mused Amnon. “d&b has been my longest stay in one company because I fell in love with the people and the industry.”
With an eye on the horizon, the CEO has decided it’s time to pass on the reins to the company’s current CRO (Chief Revenue Officer) Jaakko Kaivonen, who will take full control of the pro audio giant from 1 January 2026.
Harman – who remains a shareholder – will then take a seat on the company’s Advisory Board. The company has also announced that from the start of 2026, Dr. Thilo Ittner will take on the role of Chief Technology and Operations Officer (CTOO) overseeing technology, Product Management, R&D, and Operations, shaping the long-term roadmap that anticipates customer needs and market developments.
THREE FOUNDATIONAL VALUES
Looking back at his 11 years with the company, Harman listed several highlights including the development of the popular SL-Series of speakers as well as the overall growth experienced by the company. However, one of his biggest points of pride was the development of the company’s brand image.
“When I first joined, d&b was a highly regarded German loudspeaker manufacturer where the quality of our products was the highest selling point. Today, we are now an international audio company that is not only known for our speakers but the overall experience that you can provide with our systems,” Harman commented.
He further alluded to the development of new workflows and software such as ArrayCalc and Soundscape. Despite these multifaceted offerings, he was happy that the “essence of d&b’s culture had not changed” over the past decade. He elaborated: “We identified three values that are still held in high regard. Those being: passion, quality and Wir-Gefühl (the feeling of togetherness). I’m proud that we have maintained these values.”
Noting how the overall events landscape had altered significantly in his tenure, Harman said: “Live entertainment is now a real economic factor. When I started nobody really talked about the live industry, especially when compared to other sectors such as the automotive world. This has all changed and politicians are recognising that it’s become a big economic factor. We now have phrases such as ‘experience economy’. Audiences are wanting to experience something bigger and better. It’s a phenomenon of our time and good for us and the basis of why we can invent new event formats and technologies. Crowds want to be entertained in different ways, and we reacted to that by bringing Soundscape to the market.”
He also noted the other major change was the trend toward “high quality.” He added: “We are operating in a segment that is at the upper end of the market. The growth is higher than in the general market and more people choose the better tech to provide their customers with a better experience. In the arena and stadium market for example, venues are built as multi-purpose event spaces and for these you need a sound system that converges for all.”
A NEW ERA
Discussing the transition period and what he was looking forward to in his new CEO role, the first thing that Kaivonen was keen to emphasise was that his intention is to maintain the excellent path on which d&b is currently set. “We certainly don’t need to make major changes and it’s more about trying to keep building on the strengths we already have.”
Having joined the company in early 2025, Kaivonen has held multiple management roles in various other industries including tech company ASSA ABLOY. With an international business background, the new CEO stated some of his hopes for the future of d&b.
“We certainly have some overall themes we are working towards with some interesting growth opportunities. Geopolitically there are some markets that are currently more challenging. But we are doing well in the Middle East and Latin America along with growth in parts of Asia,” he said, revealing the possibility of further product releases. “Rest assured, exciting stuff is coming!”
Musing on the topic of new releases, Harman detailed how the process of presenting innovations to the industry has changed. “We’ve evolved beyond just relying on tradeshows to present products,” he explained. “We are developing products off the back of market research and what customers need, with it hitting the market when it’s ready. Our goal with tradeshows is to create a narrative for a whole year and therefore they still play a very important part as a place to interact with customers and the wider industry.”
Clearly a constant theme under Harman’s leadership, and one that Kaivonen is maintaining, is to keep the wishes and needs of customers close to all developments – a task that both admit can be tricky due to the question of who exactly the customer is.
“You must bear in mind that we don’t just have one customer – there are many stakeholders from distributors, dealers and end users such as FOH engineers and, of course, the artist. With so many stakeholders it becomes exciting but also complicated as there is no single interface you need to convince. But one benefit of the small size of the industry means that if you do good work and take care of people, word spreads.”
Harman added: “We appreciate that all types of customers have different needs, but we also really focus on the needs of different segments. There are certain markets that have already embraced the possibilities of immersive systems like Soundscape. Above all high-end theatres, but also Houses of Worship are increasingly recognising the benefits of this. In complex markets such as touring there is still some hesitation due to set-up times, but this will change in future. What is most important: you always need to know the added value you bring to each stakeholder.”
Under this new leadership, it will be exciting to see how the next decade shapes up for the loudspeaker manufacturer.
Words: Stew Hume
Photos: d&b audiotechnik
