Yamaha Corp. of America has promoted both Rick Young and Tom Sumner to the position of senior vice president at the Buena Park, Calif.-based company, the largest subsidiary of Yamaha. The move follows Executive Vice President Terry Lewis’ decision to retire from Yamaha at the end of June.

Both Young and Sumner have most recently served as Yamaha corporate vice presidents, and each has more than two decades of experience working at Yamaha. They will jointly lead the newly formed Customer Sales and Marketing (CSM) Group, a company-wide initiative designed to seamlessly align Yamaha Corp. of America with the needs of a broad base of select dealers, top artists, performance venues, and leading academic and institutional facilities.

In his new role, Young will oversee the Yamaha Corp. of America’s Piano Division, Band and Orchestral Division, Yamaha Corporate Artist Affairs in Nashville, Yamaha Artist Services in New York, and the Music Education Department. He will continue as general manager of the company’s Pro Audio and Combo Division, including Yamaha Artist Services Hollywood.

Young began his music retail career in 1984 at Ward-Brodt Music Mall in the Madison, Wis., area and joined Yamaha in 1987 as district manager in Chicago with the company’s Band and Orchestral Division.

Sumner will lead Yamaha Corp. of America’s Advertising and Creative Services Division, Corporate Business Development, Steinberg North America, Academic and Institutional Relations/Music in Education, and Corporate Loans Department. In addition, he will retain his position as president of the subsidiary company, Yamaha Electronics Corp.

Sumner started his career as a consumer electronics buyer for Macy’s California and joined Yamaha in 1988 as national account manager for the Consumer Products Division.

“I want to commend Rick and Tom for their extraordinary leadership and management skills,” said Yamaha President Hogan Osawa. “Both are extremely deserving of their promotions. The CSM Group will further advance our goal of ‘One Yamaha,’ enabling us to get closer to our customers, further improve the customer experience, enhance our marketing and grow our business. Rick and Tom are deeply committed to achieving these goals and will work as a team to integrate our sales and marketing functions across our entire range of product offerings.”

yamaha.com