D’Addario appointed James Smith as key account manager — western US, reporting directly to Chris Scialfa, director of sales, North America. Most recently, Smith was a marketing consultant/owner of NetPro based in Los Angeles. During his time there, he helped companies develop end-to-end marketing campaigns, sales training programs, and special projects. Prior to NetPro, Smith held a series of progressively higher level roles at Guitar Center where he developed a very successful career spanning over 15 years. After working at the retail level, Smith elevated to the corporate office where he held various titles from associate product manager, promotions manager, director of merchandise operations and finally the director of marketing and business development.
In his last role, Smith managed a team of seven employees which were split between marketing and sales. As one of his achievements, he led his sales team to revenue growth of $1.5 million in a span of 2.5 years. Furthermore, he was responsible for managing business-to-business sales while he directly managed some of Guitar Center’s largest accounts, including D’Addario.