NORTHRIDGE, Calif. – HARMAN Embedded Audio (HEA), a specialized provider of proprietary audio and voice hardware and software solutions for partner products, announced Ruomu Hu’s promotion to Vice President & General Manager of HEA. Hu draws upon her extensive 25 years of experience in engineering, procurement, quality, sales, and business development experience in the global automotive industry at GM, Daimler-Chrysler, Wipro, and HARMAN to lead the HEA team delivering innovative audio and voice engineering solutions to a wide portfolio of existing customers and driving new customer acquisitions to achieve BU growth and profitability goals.
Ruomu has been with HARMAN since 2002 in multiple functions and developed HARMAN’s first automotive business in China with Shanghai GM followed by an expatriate assignment as HARMAN’s first employee in China and an integral member of the team that established HARMAN’s presence in the region. Ruomu formed strategic relationships and roadmaps, successfully developed key product and business offerings with SGM, GM, FCA, Harley Davidson, John Deere, Tesla and EV customers around the globe. In her most recent role as VP&GM of the Global General Motors Business Unit, Ruomu and her team secured the largest award in HARMAN history by executing account management strategy, brand management and business development with Digital Cockpit, Telematics, Display, Audio, ADAS, Cybersecurity, Cloud Service Platform, OTA, and Samsung automotive technologies and products. She holds a bachelor’s of science in electrical and computer engineering from Purdue University and a master’s of science in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Michigan.
“The breadth and depth of Ruomu’s experience across all these business disciplines, including overseeing major automotive OEM accounts at HARMAN made her the ideal candidate for this leadership position,” said Lyle Smith, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Global Markets, HARMAN. “Her technology knowhow and business acumen transfers well to HARMAN Embedded Audio in a way that will be instrumental in shaping not only product development, but also how we develop the relationships with our customers.”
To align the organization with future growth, Hu elevated and expanded a number of roles within the leadership team.
Sherry Chen, Senior Director, Operation and Business Excellence, HEA, in addition to leading HEA Product Management and Supply Chain, will now also develop operational performance measures and metrics, and drive strategies and processes to increase business profitability across all HEA functions. Olivier Bourdeau has been promoted to Senior Director, HEA Sales to lead the EMEA, APAC, India, and US sales regions.
“Stepping into my new role at HARMAN I was immediately struck by the high caliber of talent and passion not only in the leadership, but by the entire team working towards the best technology for our customers,” said Ruomu Hu, Vice President and General Manager of HARMAN Embedded Audio. “With these promotions and alignments, our excellent leaders will be even better aligned to unlock the potential of growth for our business unit.”
Hu assumes the role from Johnny Williams who was promoted to Vice President & General Manager, Consumer Audio, North America. She is based out of HARMAN’s Northridge, California, offices.
About HARMAN Embedded Audio
HARMAN Embedded Audio, a specialized consumer business unit within HARMAN International, is a full-service audio and voice technology provider that embeds proprietary hardware and software systems into partner products. To elevate the audio and voice performance of every partner product, HARMAN Embedded Audio combines an expert team of sales, operations, engineering, and development professionals to create true product differentiation and winning business solutions with Sound by JBL, Sound by Harman Kardon, or Sound by Infinity co-branding opportunities. HARMAN Embedded Audio works with leading global brands to provide tuning expertise for audio and voice integration in a variety of industries including consumer electronics, enterprise, fitness, Internet of Things (IoT), safety/security, healthcare and recreation. In 2017, HARMAN became a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. All third-party trademarks referenced by HARMAN remain the property of their respective owners. For more information, visit Embedded.Harman.com.
Media Contact
GLOBAL
David Glaubke
Director, Global Corporate Communications
HARMAN Embedded Audio
david.glaubke@harman.com
+1 (818) 895-3464
