Jim Pearse is bringing more than 30 years of tech retail experience to bear for ProSource.
Tech group’s new appointee reports to CEO Dave Workman
By Alan Wolf, YSN
AVB’s consumer tech affiliate ProSource has a new president.
CE retail veteran Jim Pearse has assumed the post, reporting to CEO Dave Workman.
In a statement, the nation’s largest A/V and integration buying group said the expansion of its senior management team supports the continued growth of the organization.
“Jim’s strengths as an inclusive team leader with a track record of success stems from his background as an effective executive guiding the development, expansion, and profitability of both regional and national retail brands,” Workman said. “ProSource is very fortunate to welcome an engaging and humble leader that values partnership as a foundation of success.”
Indeed, Pearse’s career arc in tech retail extends over three decades, beginning with an 18-year stint at Ultimate Electronics, the legendary 14-state tech chain founded by his parents Bill and Barbara Pearse and previously led by Workman. Pearse started out there as a teenager; assumed his first formal role in 1993 as a sales associate; would later hold marketing VP and merchandising senior VP positions; and went on to serve as president from 2008 to 2011.
Pearse next led Sears Holdings’ CE business as COO/VP of consumer electronics, where he helped pioneer the retailer’s Connected Solutions shops, which merchandised smart-home products and services within an easy-to-understand format.
Most recently, Pearse was president/CMO of, and later executive advisor to, Wireless Advocates, which operates mobile phone kiosks and runs online wireless sales for retailers including Costco and the U.S. military exchanges.
His track record, ProSource said, has earned him “a reputation as an executive [who] maintains a high level of integrity and partnership focus.”
“I am excited to apply my experience to helping ProSource members grow their business and support our relationships with our valued ProSource partners,” Pearse said. “My specialty retail consumer electronics roots were planted when I was 14 years old, working in my family’s Ultimate Electronics stores in Denver. I quickly developed a deep respect for the dynamics of growing a customer-focused, entrepreneurial business.”
Added Pearse, “I look forward to supporting the ProSource leadership team’s passion to leverage the scale and membership value of the organization to support our members and partners.”
ProSource is a member-governed, not-for-profit buying co-op representing more than 550 specialty retailers and custom integrators. With annual sales of more than $6 billion, the AVB affiliate is the largest specialty and consumer electronics merchandising group in the country, which allows it to negotiate stronger programs with manufacturers, help independent dealers stay relevant to consumers, and keep the specialty A/V channel competitive.
BrandSource, a unit of YSN publisher AVB Inc., is a nationwide buying group for independent appliance, furniture, mattress, and CE dealers.
