The focus on the customer – which is already very strong – becomes even more intensive.

Employees at Nautel were excited when Kevin Rodgers was named President and CEO in August 2014. In addition to being a shareholder and board member of the company for many years, Kevin has long had “boots on the ground” in terms of the day-to-day operations of the company, especially when it comes to Nautel’s customer-driven processes.

Kevin is no stranger to Nautel customers – he has been with the company for three decades, and has been a champion of the customer the entire time, most recently serving as Director of Customer Service, where he grew the department to what it is today.

“Getting customer input is vital to our success,” Kevin says. “Most of the advanced ideas in our products, and many of our customer support programs come about from conversations with customers who are interacting with our products on a daily basis and know firsthand what would make their lives easier.”

In addition to implementing some of the broadcast industry’s most progressive customer support programs, Kevin founded the Nautel User Group (NUG) approximately 20 years ago.

Attendance at the annual NUG meeting has grown from just a handful of customers in its first year to over 300 at the last NAB convention (April 2014 – pictured right).

“Putting together the annual NUG meeting is a significant undertaking, and everyone in the Nautel team gets involved in one way or another,” says Kevin. “We find it a valuable tool for communicating our latest updates and getting immediate feedback on our products and programs.”

“We’re a pretty fine-tuned machine right now,” says Kevin, “but there’s always room for improvement. In fact, the company theme is ‘Continuous Improvement’ which focuses on product and firmware updates, even better customer support programs, and continuing to improve our processes here at Nautel.

“Our ultimate goal is to be the preferred supplier worldwide for broadcast transmission products,” Kevin continues. “To achieve this lofty goal, we can never lose our focus on the customer. In over 45 years, we have never discontinued support on a product, and we plan to maintain this policy. We will also continue to listen, and to bring our customers’ great ideas into our development and support plans.”