40 Under 40 2013 Profiles: Al-Saadi, Berry, Chiou, Clark, Cohen, Dickerson, DiTullo, Fleury

By Dealerscope Staff

Alex Chiou, 33, CTO and Co-Founder of The DaVinci Group and TDG Audio; CEO of Vanguard Dynamics; President of Blue Aura

Background: Born in Taiwan, moved to Nicaragua at a young age, and has lived in Los Angeles since he was seven.

Higher Education: University of California, Riverside, Business Administration Degree

Career: Ten years in the industry. Oversees product development and marketing.

Industry accomplishments: Chiou was the chief engineer behind award-winning products by SpeakerCraft, including the AIM Profile, Bombtomb, Tantra, and OS series of speaker systems.

Chiou’s colleagues say his engineering leadership helps to create great products with outstanding performance and value, which help dealers win projects, increase profits and provide exceptional value. He also mentors other young entrepreneurs who want to launch their own companies.

Awards: Technology Integrator’s 2013 Young Turks of CE and CE Pro’s 2012 Notable Start-ups

What you like best about your job: “Seeing people’s reactions to products I’ve created. Hearing people say how cool my products are or how much they enjoy the sound quality of the products I’ve designed.”

What you like least: “I least enjoy the extensive travel that is part of my job. I have to travel quite often to Asia to work side by side with our manufacturing partners. Once I’m at the factory, I love the teamwork and problem solving.”

Favorite pastime: Golf and watching movies.

Last book read: “It’s been a while since I’ve read a book; I mostly read newspapers.”

Favorite movie: The “Iron Man” series.

Best concert: “I’m going to be honest and say that I’ve never gone to a concert before, but when I do see one on TV, I crank up my stereo system. I love watching VMA style award shows where there are multiple artists performing.”

Favorite CE product of the year: The iRobot vacuum cleaners.

If you could be anyplace else right now, it would be: “I would love to be in Bali, Indonesia, right now, sitting at a beach side villa, drinking an ice cold coconut.”