Kathy Gornik, president of Kentucky-based Thiel Audio--maker of high-end
loudspeakers and sound system products--works in an industry where finding
another female CEO in the room is next to impossible. "On the manufacturing
side, it's definitely a man's world out there--very competitive, research-based
and quite treacherous for women," she says. "In the beginning, I was regarded as
a curiosity, and that's exactly what got me the appointments I needed."
Being an entrepreneur came naturally to Gornik, who grew up working in her
father’s high-end retail business in Euclid, Ohio. Her first job was working the
clunky addressograph and helping with inventory. By the time she was 14, she was
working the sales floor. Gornik was inspired by her father, a first-generation
American from Yugoslavia with an entrepreneurial bent. "One day, after a big
snowstorm, he was unlocking the store and said something like, 'Every time I
open this door, it costs me $5,000,'" she says. "I wanted to know why, and thus
began my education about overhead, payroll, inventory and bank loans."
Gornik, who is in her 50s, started at Thiel in its early days. She left her
teaching job in Maryland to sell speakers for the company after getting a call
from one of the Thiel brothers, who she knew from college. The company sent her
two speakers and she began researching the products and industry. "You've got to
be savvy about your speakers if you're going to convince people to spend as much
as 10 times more [on yours] than the next guy's," she says.
After selling more than 2,000 speakers in her first year, the Thiel brothers
asked her to move to Kentucky and offered her a third of the business. She
didn’t think twice. "I had zero budget and my job was to develop a marketing
plan, but I knew I could do it," Gornik says. She knew that getting people to
listen to the speakers and review them was critical. And she was right. "That
put us on the map," she says. "Once they heard the speakers, they raved about
them, which got us lots of attention."
Today, Gornik owns 50 percent of the privately held business. With 30
employees and 30,000 square feet of space in Lexington, Kentucky, the company
sells speakers to 150 independent dealers throughout the U.S. and in 33
countries. A strong free-market advocate, she insists, "This is the best way to
get the best product for the lowest price."
During her years at Thiel, the company has won dozens of "product of the
year" awards and received the Consumer Electronic Association's "Design and
Engineering Award" 19 times. Gornik is the only woman to have served on CEA's
international board and remains its only female chair.
In that time, she's also faced her share of challenges--and learned how to
deal with them. That has meant knowing her own limitations--when she's helping
and when she's in the way. "I think I haven't seized enough opportunities," she
says. "I've had to make a big effort to get 'outside the box' as they say, and
the results have been phenomenal." Another challenge: "I'm basically an
introvert, and I have to fight my own personality. I have to confront the fears
associated with that."
Gornik advises other women wanting to get into the electronics field to know
their stuff and be clear about their goals. She adds, "Eighty percent of success
is showing up, and there's rarely a time when courtesy should not prevail."
Despite being in the sound business, Gornik appreciates a little silence. In
fact, "more solitude" is on her wish list. "I’m rejuvenated by quiet time," she
says.