i3 - November/December 2019 - 38

INDUSTRY EXECUTIVE
( 1 9 54 - )

T

here are few executives
who have led as many
consumer technology
companies to success or
have served the industry as
diligently and frequently as
Henry Chiarelli. Over a fourdecade-plus career, Chiarelli
served as an executive at
the regional, domestic and
global levels of several leading
consumer technology,
e-commerce and retail
businesses responsible for
thousands of employees and
billions of dollars in revenues,
and served as a chair, vicechair or member on nearly 50
industry association boards,
committees and standards
working groups.
Born in Boston on April 7,
1954, the son of Christina,
a bookkeeper, and Andrew,
Chiarelli was primarily raised
by his maternal grandmother
in Braintree, MA. In 1970, the
16-year-old self-described
"street kid" sought refuge from
a drenching rainstorm in the
local RadioShack. The store
needed a stock clerk for the
Christmas season and Chiarelli
needed a job. His experience
in the back room of that
RadioShack straightened the
youngster out and laid the
course for the rest of his life.
After high school, Chiarelli
enrolled in a post graduate

38

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019

program for college graduates
focused on computer science
at the Massachusetts Institute
of Information Sciences,
earning a computer science
certification.
Chiarelli spent the decade
after graduation in varying
divisional, regional and
national retail, operations,
service, support and brand
management executive
positions at RadioShack
and its corporate parent,
Tandy Corp. These jobs took
Chiarelli around the country
and the world, honing his
people, critical thinking and
management skills.
In 1995, Chiarelli was
named VP and GM for Tandy's
new Incredible Universe
megastore chain, whose
19 stores generated annual
revenues of $1.2 billion. After
leading the sale of Incredible
Universe to Fry's Electronics,
Chiarelli moved to Tandy's
Computer City retail chain in
1997 as SVP of merchandising
and marketing, where he
more than doubled inventory,

increased margins 220 basis
points and eventually led
the sale of the company to
CompUSA.
After moving back to
RadioShack corporate in
1998, Chiarelli was appointed
president of the retailer's
e-commerce site. Overcoming
corporate fears of brick-andmortar sales cannibalization,
Chiarelli championed the
project, helping negotiate
a $100 million deal with
Microsoft to become a partner
in the new site. The following
year, Chiarelli was one of a half
dozen brick-and-mortar retail
executives to testify before
Congress, which was trying to
decide on how sales tax would
be collected by online retailers.
After 32 years with the
company, Chiarelli left
RadioShack in 2002 to
become VP of merchandising
for CompUSA, for which he
launched 185 in-store home
theaters. In 2005, Chiarelli
began the first of three stints
at Gibson, where he was
president of Gibson's audio

group and in charge of a
branded line of consumer
electronics.
In 2002, Chiarelli decided
to return to school. He "aced"
his GMAT and was accepted at
TCU, where he earned his MBA
in 2004 becoming (at the time)
the oldest graduate student in
the Fort Worth school's history.
The following year, Chiarelli
joined David Lorsch (CT Hall
of Fame 2016) to help manage
DBL Distributing, eventually
becoming president of
the company after its sale
to Ingram Micro, where it
became the distributor's
consumer electronics division.
After leaving Ingram in 2009,
Chiarelli opened his own firm,
consulting for Gibson, Ingram
Micro and other technology
companies, then returned to
Gibson full-time in 2012 as EVP
of industry relations, in charge
of Gibson Brands "Innovation
and Advanced Development"
activities within emerging
technology sectors.
While serving in various
executive suites, Chiarelli
also has served on dozens of
industry boards, committees
and standards working groups
including CTA, the Wi-Fi
Alliance, Bluetooth SIG and
the Avnu Alliance. Chiarelli
lives with his wife, Linda, in The
Village of Estero, FL.
I T I S I N N O VAT I O N
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