Gibson CEO wins Entrepreneur of the Year award

Henry E. Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Nashville-based musical instrument giant Gibson Musical Instruments, has been named winner of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the category of Industry Entrepreneur of the Year/Southeast Manufacturing category. He now becomes eligible to win in the national overall finals to be announced later this year. The annual award recognizes exemplary leadership in business and is co-sponsored by USA Today, Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, NASDAQ/AMEX, CNN/FN and CNN.

Juszkiewicz grew up in Rochester, NY. With a passion for music and superior academic skills, Henry enrolled at the General Motors Institute in Flint, MI, a five year co-op engineering college. Sponsored by GMs Delco division, he gained experience in a variety of different jobs at Delcos 6,000-employee electronic components plant in Rochester. Putting his musical skills to work, Henry worked his way through school playing guitar - a Gibson, of course - in various rock bands playing for parties and weddings. Upon graduating with honors, Henry worked at Delco Products for two years as Product Manager while studying for an MBA in night school at the University of Rochester. He completed his MBA at Harvard University on a General Motors Fellowship.

Henry then joined the New York firm of Neiderhoffer, Cross and Zeckhauser, Inc., a pioneer in the area of middle-market deals, where he rose to the position of Executive Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions. He left the firm in 1981 and, with two former Harvard classmates, acquired Phi Technologies of Oklahoma City. Within one month he turned the struggling technology firm into a highly profitable company.

In 1986, Henry, along with partners David Berryman and Gary Zebrowski, acquired the faltering and nearly-bankrupt Gibson Guitar. Juszkiewiczs aggressive management again struck true and Gibson became profitable within a months time. With creative and innovative marketing tactics he focused on the consumer rather than the retailer - a reflection of his personal experience as a guitar player. Refocusing the company on achieving the highest possible standards of quality and customer service, Juszkiewicz drove Gibson from the brink of closing to a company that has recovered worldwide respect with annual average growth of 20% over the last decade.

Juszkiewicz began fulfilling his vision of Gibson as a full-line musical instrument company by acquiring other music-related companies. Today, the Gibson family of companies includes Gibson guitars & basses, Epiphone guitars & basses, Dobro Resonator guitars, Tobias basses, Trace Elliot amplifiers, Slingerland drums, Opcode Systems software and hardware, Flatiron banjos and mandolins, Gibson Amplifiers, Gibson Strings & Accessories and The Gibson Guitar Gallery and Caffe.