Vision - May/June 2008 - (Page 10)

visionary CE’s Cutting-EdgE LEadErs ] • [ by Cindy LoffLEr stEvEns Mitek founder, chairMan and ceo peace through trade Loyd Ivey alk to Loyd Ivey, founder, chairman and CEO of Mitek Corp., and you quickly realize that people and respect are top priorities for him. The company has built a reputation for listening to its customers. Mitek’s products are sold through car audio specialists and other CE retailers. After 40 years Mitek still is a familyowned and operated business with facilities located in Arizona, Illinois, Kentucky, Texas, Wisconsin, Canada, France and China. It is the parent of 13 specialized audio companies that sell product in more than 100 countries. The corporate philosophy: “Work hard, play hard.” To this end, MTX Audio, sponsors some of the athletes competing in M.M.A. (mixed martial arts). Ivey’s nickname was given to him by some of his rapper friends. “It was kind of a joke. My name is Loyd Lee so they called me LL, like LL Cool J, but they called me LL Bling Daddy.” He adds, “I’ve had a lot of fun with that.” Mitek products often are used in video and film production for shows like MTV’s “Pimp My Ride.” Ivey is very active in ProNatura, a North American and Central American organization dedicated to protecting the flora and fauna of the Americas. He spent many years in the Yucatan helping to secure 3.5 million acres of wildlife preserve. He has set aside thousands of acres of land in Missouri, Arizona and Illinois to protect local wildlife. Ivey is a pilot and an enthusiast of classic automobiles and motorcycles, music and sound reproduction and perfecting the art of American-made manufacturing. He is a strong supporter of education and has taught at several colleges. Unfortunately business leaders can’t teach K–12 courses because they don’t have a teaching certificate. He says, “I believe this is a great loss to society. We need to change this.” He also is a tireless volunteer for CEA and T has held numerous positions at the association including chairman. He got involved 15 years ago and has played a key role in CEA’s major decisions this decade. Ivey also is a passionate advocate for free trade. He is a participant in CEA’s Faces of Trade campaign and recently appeared in CEA ads that ran in the Washington Post, Politico, Roll Call and The Hill. CE Vision caught up with him at CEA’s Washington Forum and asked him to speak about why free trade is so critical to the success of his company and also for the American economy. How important is free trade to the CE industry? Global trade makes the world a better and safer place because you don’t shoot your customer and they don’t shoot you. CEA’s Executive Board looked at China, and we talked about possible growth and investments, and now we have SINOCES which has been very successful. CES is now a major brand name throughout the world. And that’s all about a decision to make investments on the various continents. One time in Washington, CEA’s Gary Shapiro orchestrated a meeting at Sam and Harry’s where we had people from all over the world—Muslims, Jews, Hindus and Christians—that typically could be warring with each other. Everyone was talking about how if we trade in the Middle East and we are partners and respect one another, we do business together and we treat everyone with dignity, then that brings peace to the Middle East. The next thing we know, we have a show in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, International CES/Hometech. It’s great for business and for global relations. These are good outreaches, but the annual meeting of technology of the world market place every year in Las Vegas—the International CES—is something that really promotes global trade. How does free trade affect your business? I have factories and inspection teams in China and about 1,000 employees there. These are not just people we buy from— these are actually investments that we made in these marketplaces, because CEA was able to invest there and get involved with the local economy and the local government. So rather than China being a problem, China becomes part of the solution. With that being said, we look at South America, Central America and our partners in Mexico. These are good global trading partners. What we have to do is reduce the barriers in order to trade with these countries. But you don’t treat them just as countries; you treat them as companies you do business with. Brazil, Columbia, Panama and Peru, are all countries that we do business with, but we have high barriers, so we need trade agreements. It’s not free trade; it’s actually fair trade. What have you done to promote fair trade? I spent time on Capitol Hill with CEA’s Michael Petricone and Sage Chandler. After visiting many members of Congress and their staffs, the Peru trade bill was passed. When we first went in to the offices, many Congress members told us why they were not for it. We convinced them that trade brings www.ce.org 10 May/June 2008 Mary Soddy http://www.ce.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Vision - May/June 2008

Vision - May/June 2008 Contents Shapiro's Spectrum In This Issue The Economist C4 Trends Visionary Making the Smartphone Truly Intelligent Shipping Strategies for CE Companies IP in BRIC Countries CEA Newsline Tech Speak Eye on Business Tech Policy Market Insider Just the Stats

Vision - May/June 2008

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