A major segment of the GN ReSound Group's worldwide market
share comes from its North American operation including; the
United States and Canada.
GN ReSound North American headquarters is located in Bloomington,
Minnesota.
GN ReSound houses over 500 employees in the Bloomington facility
and is home to the company's Senior Management, Customer Care,
Technical Support, Inside Sales, Marketing, Finance, Information
Technology and Human Resources groups.
A state-of-the-art manufacturing facility produces thousands
of new custom in-the-ear (ITE) products each month, in addition
to servicing both ITE and behind-the-ear (BTE) products.
Interactive Floorplan.
Bjørn Christ
President
As the current President of ReSound North America, Bjørn
Christ is focused on developing the infrastructure needed
to drive ReSound’s position within the North American
market and provide both top products and service to the
hearing healthcare industry.
Prior to joining the North American division, Bjørn
was General Manager of ReSound Japan. During his
four-year tenure, ReSound Japan increased its market
share value from approximately 5% to 11%, grew revenue
by 20% in a flat market, and tripled profits. Bjørn
began with ReSound in 2001 as Vice President of Business
Development, leading activities related to the corporate
acquisition and integration of ReSound, Danavox, Royal
Philips, Viennatone and Beltone.
Bjørn held positions with consulting firms McKinsey & Company
and PricewaterhouseCoopers before joining ReSound.
He has been published in the Journal of National
Economics and is a sought-after advisor by international
companies on strategy and change management.
Bjørn earned a master’s degree in Macro-Economics and
Finance and a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from
the University of Copenhagen. He has also studied
at MIT (Boston), Institut Francais and Copenhagen Business
School.
Rich Swanson
Chief Operating Officer
As the Chief Operating Officer of ReSound, Rich Swanson
manages all financial activities including financial
planning, strategic investment, and accounting. Rich
also oversees the US Quality department to ensure FDA
and ISO compliance.
Rich joined ReSound in 2002 as the Vice President of
Finance. He previously worked for the DSS division
of Imation, a provider of data storage products. He
was responsible for U.S. sales and marketing, selling
outsourced solutions for field service, help desk and
logistics. He started at Imation as the Worldwide
Controller, after having previously held several similar
controller/accounting positions at other businesses.
Rich holds a MBA from the Carlson School of Management,
University of Minnesota. He earned bachelor’s degrees in
Accounting and Computer Science from the University of
Saint Thomas (Minnesota). Rich is also a Certified
Public Accountant.
Keith Lewis
Vice President, Business Development
Keith Lewis is the Vice President of Business Development
for ReSound. He brings a strong background in marketing,
strategic planning and commercial operations development
to ReSound.
Prior to his position with ReSound, Keith served as the
Director of Marketing for Bausch and Lomb's US Contact
Lens Division and ran the company’s Worldwide Olympic
Sponsorship. He held vice president positions for Ray
Ban, Global Vision Care, and North American Vision Care.
Keith has been a guest lecturer on Customer Relationship
Management, Web Based Strategies, and Brand Development. He
has served as chairman of the Marketing Committee
for the University of Rochester Memorial Art Gallery,
during which he established commercial strategies to
drive a more youthful membership.
Keith received a MBA from the Johnson School of Management
at Cornell University and earned his bachelor’s degree
from Colgate University.
Kevin Mensink
Vice President, Marketing
Kevin Mensink was named Vice President of Marketing
in 2007. He is responsible for delivering clear
communication to hearing healthcare professionals about
the benefits of ReSound products, as well as providing
tools and resources to assist hearing healthcare professionals
communicate product benefits to the end-user. Kevin
is committed to making ReSound the company that best
partners with hearing healthcare professionals to achieve
their long-term objectives.
Prior to joining ReSound in 2005, Kevin held a variety
of marketing and financial positions at the Thomson Corporation.
Kevin holds a MBA and bachelor’s degrees in Economics
and Accounting from the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota).
John A. Nelson, PhD
Vice President, Audiology and Professional Services
John Nelson is the Vice President of Audiology and Professional
Services at ReSound, responsible for educating our customers
in the hearing healthcare profession of new advances
in ReSound research and development. He also leads
a national team of audiologists who instruct and assist
customers on the technical features and fitting of ReSound
instruments.
In 2004, John began working for ReSound in Research
and Development at the company’s corporate headquarters
in Copenhagen, Denmark. Before joining ReSound,
he held a faculty appointment at The University of Texas
and earlier worked as a research audiologist at the Veterans’
Affairs Medical Center.
A contributor to numerous publications, John serves
as an Associate Editor for Ear and Hearing,
and as an Assistant Editor for Journal of Speech,
Language & Hearing Research, Journal of American
Academy of Audiology, and Journal of the Academy
of Rehabilitative Audiology. He has presented
internationally for entities including International
Congress of Hearing Aid Acousticians (EUHA), American
Academy of Audiology (AAA) and others.
John holds a PhD in Speech and Hearing Sciences from
the University of Iowa, a Masters of Audiology degree
from the University of South Carolina, and a bachelor’s
degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the
University of Minnesota.
Brian Tsuchiya
Vice President, Operations
Brian Tsuchiya is the Vice President of Operations for
ReSound. He is responsible for defining strategies
and cross-functional initiatives that will increase ReSound’s
custom hearing instrument market share.
Prior to joining ReSound in 2005, Brian was the director
for the Minneapolis-St. Paul operation of Mesaba Aviation. He
was responsible for developing and maintaining a safe
operation for over 400 employees while leading the daily
coordination of multiple operating groups including pilots,
flight attendants, mechanics, operations control, and
ground operations. He achieved industry-leading
safety and operational performance, and successfully
led the only union-free operating group in the company. Brian
earlier worked at Metro Machine & Engineering, a
firm that engineers, fabricates, and integrates large
scale capital equipment for the medical industry. Brian
worked in business development and was responsible for
negotiating partnerships and sales channel relationships.
Similar positions prior to these combine for 10 years
of achieving growth through streamlined operations, cost
effectiveness, and successful operational benchmarking
while leading engineering, operations, and business development
functions.
Brian earned his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering
from the University of Minnesota.
Tom Woods
Vice President, Sales
Tom Woods joined ReSound in 2007 as the Vice President
of Sales. His career in healthcare industry sales
and resolute course of achieving goals steadily drive
market share for ReSound. Since joining ReSound,
Tom has strengthened the sales organization through acquisition
of sales talent, implementation of strategic sales processes,
and development of personnel.
The majority of Tom’s experience comes from medical
device company C.R. Bard Inc. He held a variety
of positions in both sales and product marketing, and
most recently was responsible for a 120-member divisional
sales organization including sales, sales management,
training and support. He focused not only on growing
revenue, but also on recruiting and developing talented
sales professionals comprising his team.
Tom earned a bachelor’s in Business Administration from
The Ohio State University.
