Title: Business Development Manager II - Technical Specialist
Company: Exertis Almo
Location: New Jersey
Overtime: He married his high school sweetheart, loves spending time with his two daughters, and is ready to talk fantasy football when you are.
Why You Need to Know Him: From designing audio projects to closing telecommunication deals, Rob Voorhees is constantly pushing himself to improve.
His official title is business development manager, but Rob Voorhees wears several hats at Exertis Almo. He represents the HARMAN vendor relationship as part of the audio team and is also a member of the professional services teams. That includes everything from finding the desired components for customers to designing complete audio systems from scratch. He also manages partnerships with more than 300 internet service providers for bandwidth and telephony contracts for customers.
Early in his professional life, it’s probably fair to say that Voorhees was Pro AV adjacent. He has always loved music (he has an eclectic collection) and began his career selling cassette tapes at Sam Goody. Through later roles at Best Buy and Sears, he learned more about consumer audio and video technologies.
Eventually, Voorhees transitioned to the telecommunications industry. “I was looking for an outside sales position that still blended with the retail world,” he recalled. That career shift wound up as a 15-year stint with DirecTV, which had him working with those same electronics stores and introduced him to the world of distribution. In 2017, he made the jump to Exertis Almo.
Beyond the day-to-day, Voorhees is also a media mogul in training. Not only has he contributed to SCN and other industry publications, but he launched his own podcast, “Mind Your Business,” in February on the Exertis Almo YouTube Channel. Through the series, Voorhees and his guests discuss various business development topics.
It was during the first week of his time at Exertis Almo when a colleague told him about contributing his voice to industry media. Voorhees scoffed at the idea at the time—but during the pandemic, he found his niche. Rather than taking deep dives into technology (which he is certainly capable of doing), he wanted to provide more personal advice to his audiences through real-world experiences. “I realized that not everything has to be super-technical,” he explained. “Now I get my biggest joy out of helping others through my own experiences.”
An avid runner, Voorhees has learned to keep his eyes on the road ahead, both personally and professionally. He maintains a long-term, goal-oriented focus and is determined to be “always improving, never stale.” He subscribes to two business philosophies, which he admits are clichés but work for him.
The first is time management. In the past few years, he has changed his lifestyle to include early morning workout and email sessions, as well as an early bedtime. “It allows me to stay on top of my tasks for that day,” Voorhees explained. “It doesn’t work for everybody, but it’s part of my recipe for success.”
His other guiding principle? Always be learning. For example, when Voorhees first began working with HARMAN, he was worried that he didn’t know enough about audio. Within 18 months of starting his Pro AV career, he had earned his CTS, which he credited with helping him learn the basics about audio systems.
“Technology in this space is constantly evolving and changing,” Voorhees said, “and I don’t ever want to be left behind.”
