EVANS, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--recteq (or the “Company”), a leading designer, marketer, and direct seller of premium pellet grills and outdoor lifestyle products, announced today that Ralph Santana has been named CEO. Santana will serve as the Company’s first CEO and assumed responsibilities in June 2022. Prior to Santana’s hire, recteq’s day-to-day leadership was provided by founders Ron Cundy and Ray Carnes.
Ralph brings over 30 years’ experience to recteq, including roles with high profile companies like PepsiCo, Samsung, and HARMAN International. He is a global business executive with significant P&L experience and brings innovation, design, and brand strategy acumen. In his most recent role as EVP & Global CMO at HARMAN, Santana was responsible for all aspects of global e-commerce, product design, marketing strategy, corporate communications, and PR. This world-wide responsibility included stewardship of iconic brands such as AKG®, harman/Kardon®, and JBL®. Notably, Ralph transformed JBL into the #1 consumer portable speaker brand in the world.
“The recteq culture encompasses our commitment to the recteq lifestyle, our family of employees, our customers’ experience, our breadth of products, and our relationships with our vendors and communities. All of this will continue to work together to be our secret sauce,” founders Cundy and Carnes shared. “We’ve been fortunate to experience strong industry tailwinds which have led to continued growth, and we brought Ralph on board to help us expand our business and culture more broadly.”
“I am delighted and humbled to join the recteq family,” said Santana. “The founders and employees have built an incredible business and product offering that are grounded with a deep understanding of consumer needs. I am excited to further embed this brand in its culture and scale the business by bringing meaningful innovation and product campaigns to life.”
“We couldn’t be more excited about our new CEO and his unique perspective to take recteq to the next level,” Carnes added. “Ralph’s vision is to maintain our Quality and Customer Service while keeping our core values intact.”
Santana received his bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and his MBA from Duke University Fuqua School of Business.
About recteq
Founded in 2009 by Ray Carnes and Ron Cundy, recteq is a technology-driven, multi-faceted designer, marketer, and direct seller of premium pellet grills, accessories, and other outdoor products. In 2021, Norwest Equity Partners (“NEP”), a leading middle market investment firm founded in 1961, made a significant investment in the Company.
