With a background in business and a passion for guitars, Thomas Ripsam found his dream job as the president and CEO of C.F. Martin and Co., based in Nazareth, Pennsylvania.
Thomas grew up in a home filled with music in Ulm, Germany, located in the southern part of the country between Stuttgart and Munich. “My first musical memory is listening to Elvis playing an acoustic guitar and Scotty Moore, who played an electric Gibson ES-295 guitar in Elvis’s backup band.” Thomas learned to play the guitar as a teen and even played in a band, but by the time he got to college, he was serious about his studies.
Thomas attended college in Germany and studied business for another three years in England before moving to the United States to earn his MBA at Columbia School of Business. For 25 years, Thomas worked as an international business consultant. His clients ranged from small, family-owned companies to Fortune 500 powerhouses, including Sony, HP, and PepsiCo. “I helped companies navigate big problems or challenges,” he says. “I helped them to connect better with customers and taught them how to grow, how to become more profitable, and how to leverage technology. I love problem-solving.”
While he worked in business daily, Thomas spent his spare time exercising his creativity. “I recorded a couple of albums. I like the process of recording, mixing, and mastering.” He began to amass a large guitar collection. Because he wanted to understand better the process of building a guitar, Thomas took a sabbatical in 2019 to work one-on-one with a luthier in Delaware to build a Martin-style acoustic guitar.
“It was a real eye-opening experience,” he says. I had no idea how involved it would be and how much the human aspect makes a difference in how the instrument looks, sounds, and plays.”
Little did Thomas know that his experiences would make him the ideal candidate for a major role opening at Martin. Chris Martin had run his family’s company for 35 years, but he was ready to retire. Since the company’s founding in 1833, it has always been run by someone in the Martin family. However, with Chris’s upcoming retirement, the company decided to look outside the family for new leadership.
Meanwhile, Thomas was trying to figure out what his next step might be. “I knew I wanted to be involved in music in the arts somehow.” A self-proclaimed long-time gearhead, Thomas followed major and up-and-coming music-related companies through magazines and websites. “I found out about a search firm that was looking for a new company CEO for Martin, so I reached out to them.”
Thomas doubted he’d ever be considered for the job, but after a few months of interviews, he says he found a connection through the process. The convergence of his business experience with his passion for music and guitars and his interest in the people who worked at Martin helped Thomas rise to the top. In June 2021, he became the first non-family member in six generations to lead Martin. “It worked out for me, and I’m humbled and honored to have been chosen. I feel I have something to contribute as part of the team.”
With “tons of questions” but no preconceived notions of things to change, Thomas hit the ground running, making connections with loyal Martin lovers and new customers as well. “One of the first questions I asked the Board was, ‘Everyone loves Martin, but why? I asked what the company stands for and got a lot of different answers.’”
That inquiry led to doing some branding work, which resulted in the creation of Martin’s “Unleash the Artist Within” slogan. “It speaks to people,” Thomas says. “It was exciting internally and externally. It is super exciting to me.”
With initiatives like sustainability and celebrating the company’s heritage and legacy while looking toward the future, Thomas says he is “all in. They have all of me.” And Chris hasn’t left the company altogether. He serves as Chairman of the Board. “Chris is still involved in a lot of things, and I’m happy. It is his family’s business. We talk weekly.”
Martin manufactures guitars, ukuleles, strings, gear, and accessories. They also make custom signature guitars for artists like Eric Clapton and John Mayer, as well as a host of newcomers. “Everyone who picks up our instruments has an artist within, and we have something for everyone.” And the bluegrass community is no different. “Being a part of the bluegrass community has always been important for Martin,” says Thomas. “We have traditionally had a strong connection with bluegrass. Artists like Tony Rice and many others are all connected with the Martin name.”
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