Sweetwater has hired longtime Roland representative Bob Bailey, who will have two roles. He will fill the newly created position of Executive Director of GearFest, and he will also be the Executive Director of Sweetwater’s Academy of Music.
Launched in 2002, Sweetwater’s free, annual GearFest is the country’s largest customer-focused music and pro-audio festival and trade show. More than 12,000 attended GearFest 2016, coming to Fort Wayne IN from across the country and from overseas. The Sweetwater Academy of Music, established in 2008, now boasts a faculty of 31, providing more than 700 students with lessons in guitar and other stringed instruments, percussion, keyboards, vocals and recording.
From 2006 to last year, Bailey was the Sweetwater in-house manufacturer’s representative for Roland and BOSS Corp. US. In addition to sales and marketing duties, he created curriculum for all Roland/BOSS-related Sweetwater training programs. In 2015, he accepted the position of Director of Sales and Marketing for BOSS Corp. US. His responsibilities included sales, marketing, product development and training of Roland/BOSS’ own district sales managers and its sales staff for the entire U.S.
Sweetwater’s Founder and President, Chuck Surack, said, “With Bob’s depth of experience as a musician with a considerable résumé, an expert in gear of all kinds and someone with an impressive management background, I couldn’t imagine anyone being more qualified than Bob to run our burgeoning Academy of Music and our incredible GearFest trade show.”