HTSA has officially opened its search for a new Managing Director, beginning a planned leadership transition that will continue through the end of the year and mark the organization’s first major leadership change in more than a decade.
Current Executive Director Jon Robbins, who has led HTSA since December 2015, will remain in place through Dec. 31, with flexibility built into that timeline as the board works to identify the right leader for the group’s next era. According to HTSA’s announcement, Robbins will continue working full time on behalf of the organization through the end of the year and is expected to help onboard the incoming Managing Director once a selection is made.
For Alex Lelchuk, founder of Lelch Audio Video and president of the HTSA board, the announcement represents the first public-facing step in a process that has been unfolding carefully behind the scenes for some time.
“We’re excited,” Lelchuk said in an interview with Connected Design. “It’s been a long time coming and something that’s been in the process for a while.”
Lelchuk credited Robbins, the HTSA board, and the organization’s staff for the work that went into getting the group to this point.
“A lot of energy and hard work has gone in from both Jon and the HTSA board and the HTSA team to kind of get us to this moment,” he said.
The search comes at a significant time for HTSA. The group continues to support its members and vendor partners while also expanding its industry-facing work, including its growing collaboration with AVIXA and ProSource on RESIDE, the new co-located event at InfoComm that builds on the legacy of Lightapalooza.
Lelchuk pointed to those efforts as part of the larger momentum around the organization.
“As an organization, we’ve got some big ambitions and big goals,” he said. “Many of them we’re living out as we speak, and many of them we look to live out in the future.”
Robbins’ role in shaping HTSA’s current position is central to the transition. Lelchuk was clear that the next Managing Director will not be expected to simply replicate Robbins’ leadership style.
“HTSA is what it is because of him,” Lelchuk said. “His drive and his wisdom and insight into the industry, and bringing the right people together and bringing the right members together and keeping the right members together, are all the things that make HTSA great today.”
That legacy, he added, can be seen in the organization’s current initiatives, including “the new show and the evolution of Lightapalooza,” which he called “a testament to Jon and his excellent work and dedication to the group and the industry at large.”
The Managing Director position, currently posted through TheCoTeam, is described as the visionary leader of HTSA. The role will partner with the board to guide long-term strategy, brand positioning, industry impact, strategic partnerships, and high-level member and vendor relationships. It is not designed as a day-to-day operations role, but rather as a leadership position focused on direction, culture, relationships, and accountability.
For Lelchuk, the right candidate must understand the balance that makes HTSA work.
“We’re looking for somebody who understands the industry, understands the membership, understands the group, and most importantly understands that everybody stands to win,” he said. “Of course the membership is super important, but so are our vendor partners and so is the industry at large.”
Lelchuk acknowledged that the profile is a challenging one.
“We’re looking for a unicorn,” he said, “but we’re confident that they’re out there.”
As board president, Lelchuk said helping guide this transition is part of the responsibility that comes with serving the organization.
“The board’s responsibility, and ultimately my responsibility as the board president, is to make sure that we’re taking care of the association and the membership and our vendor partners and staff in the best possible way,” he said.
The opportunity for the next Managing Director, he added, is substantial. The incoming leader will step into a strong culture, an engaged membership, a committed vendor partner community, and a group that sees itself as playing an active role in the future of the custom integration channel.
“There’s an incredible team in place that is world-class in this industry,” Lelchuk said. “We have an awesome membership, we have an awesome vendor partner collective, and just the whole experience of HTSA is truly special. … We are consistently at the forefront of the industry, pushing the envelope of what it will become, where it’s going, why it should go there.”
While the search is now public, HTSA does not intend to rush the decision. The group’s announcement noted that the target timeline could adjust in order to find the right person.
“The right move at the right time is much more important than just a move,” Lelchuk said. “We wanted to get it out into the public because we want all the right people to know about it, and we want the right people to apply, and we’re absolutely going to take our time with it.”
For HTSA, the Managing Director search is a leadership transition, a succession plan, and a chance to shape the next chapter of one of the custom integration industry’s most influential member-owned organizations.
