Cory Schaeffer was appointed director of systems solutions at QSC to help the company expand beyond audio into corporate AV. Her experience building Listen Technologies aligns well with QSC's priorities. QSC introduced the Q-SYS Core 110f network platform at InfoComm to deliver a seamless collaboration experience in corporate meeting spaces. The system provides networking integration and remote management capabilities needed as workplaces adopt BYOD policies. Schaeffer views QSC as a good fit because it is large enough to offer opportunities for growth but maintains a collaborative culture like a smaller company. She aims to help QSC diversify into other markets like hospitality and transportation leveraging its audio expertise and new systems capabilities.

1. 18 INTERVIEW: CORY SCHAEFFER, QSC February 2016
On joining, what experience do you bring to
bear on the priorities at QSC right now?
My experience is perfectly aligned with helping
QSC in its Systems division, and the company
is perfectly aligned to help me grow: I know
corporate AV particularly well, and that’s where
QSC is heading.
What are those priorities?
To get the industry to overcome the perception
that QSC is exclusively an audio company.
We serve three business units: Live Sound,
which includes touring and installed sound
and especially amplifiers; Cinema; and my unit,
Systems. It’s a completely new departure into
corporate AV: we’re taking the power of
Q-SYS into boardrooms, meeting room audio
and control.
Moving from Listen Technologies, which
you co-founded, there was a bridge from
‘traditional’ AV in a specialist sector to
mainstream pro audio – briefly with Harman
and now at QSC. Is AV ready for better audio?
Sadly, audio is all too often an afterthought
because users take it for granted while focusing
on video and displays. Then, typically, what
goes wrong at meetings is the audio – at which
point there is no meeting. Too often ‘good
enough’ is accepted without much thought
to how our room sounds at the far end. We’ve
all been in remote meetings where we have
difficulty hearing someone in the room because
they’re on a ‘star phone’ and not close enough
to the microphones. Time is currency, and if a
meeting is worth having it’s worth having it be
as productive as it can be. This will include the
need to improve the audio experience: so much
of meeting content is in the audio. At QSC it’s our
goal to provide products so good, that exhibit so
much quality all round, that the user will ‘wear it
well’ – be proud of their choice and build a lasting
relationship with our brand. We want them to
know and experience the quality, and naturally
that includes audio.
Systems control
Phil Ward talks to Cory Schaeffer, QSC’s newly appointed director of systems solutions, now that ‘Audio’
has been excised from the company name so that it can evolve beyond specified restrictions on technology
18-19 Install188 Interview_Final.indd 1 22/01/2016 17:08

2. What prompted the move from a business
you built up from scratch to a multinational
corporation, and then from Harman to QSC?
As a co-founder of Listen Tech, I’m proud of what
I was able to build there and Listen is carrying
on successfully without me. I began to have
discussions with Rashid Skaf, the former CEO
and president of AMX, about joining AMX. These
discussions started over a year ago – this got
me thinking about ‘what’s next for me’ – and this
process allowed me to begin thinking about life
after Listen Tech. I then met with my partner
and stated that it was time for me to leave
Listen Tech as I was seeking new challenges
to learn and grow.
I joined AMX by Harman in early July 2015
and, by the end of July, Rashid had resigned and
Harman began to go into a reorganisation – all
of which I believe in and supported. I think their
direction is a good one for them; I just wasn’t a
good fit. No right, no wrong: just not a good fit.
In realising this, I made the decision that I
wanted to be in an organisation that was much
larger than Listen Tech, however one where I could
still be entrepreneurial and where the culture and I
were better aligned. So I called Joe Pham, the CEO
of QSC, in an effort to get to know him and the
QSC organisation better. The more I learned, the
more I knew that I wanted to be a part of it.
QSC introduced some disruptive technology at
the InfoComm show and is entering the corporate
AV space with an amazing product roadmap, so
it’s a great time to join. QSC is special – it’s unique
for being as large as it is – and it still holds a
small-company type of culture with a talented
group of people and a structure that is unlike
anything I’ve seen. I’m working with an amazing
group of people. I have many new technologies
and methods to learn from a group of fantastic
people. It’s a great match for me, and it’s just
what I was looking for.
What trends are you seeing in the corporate
AV sector?
One of the biggest that we have to address is
Bring Your Own Device [BYOD]. It’s one of the
evolutions of the workplace that you’ll see
reflected in our output. End users also want
to manage and monitor systems globally, so
beyond the LAN.
How will QSC’s technology adapt to those
and other developments?
QSC introduced the Q-SYS Core 110f at
InfoComm, which is a full line up of network
products that are built on Intel-based
technologies and a Linux real-time operating
system. Our system delivers a seamless
collaboration experience in boardrooms,
conference rooms and other corporate spaces.
With this system we offer the Core 110f table
or wall-mounted control panels and of course
QSC amplifiers and speakers. The Core 110f
is designed to deliver seamless networking
integration, making it easy to manage and
monitor the systems.
It’s also AES67-ready to provide
interoperability with a growing list of third-
party network audio products and will support
this standard. We’re taking a full systems
approach to the market with rigorous testing
and measurements, saving valuable set up time.
We also have a full line up of speakers for these
environments, including shallow-can ceiling
speakers when ceiling space is tight. Yes, we are
known for exceptional audio quality and audio
is key to having productive and collaborative
meetings, yet it’s often given the least amount
of time and attention – until there are audio
issues. QSC is leading the industry in educating
this sector.
The roadmap and vision at QSC is extremely
exciting and progressive. In fact, we just recently
changed the name legally from QSC Audio to
QSC. QSC is removing the limits of specific
technology segments so that we can take
full advantage of the many opportunities we
see before us.
Are there specific support platforms, such as
for Dante or the Open Control Alliance?
People often ask us about Dante, and we
absolutely do have an interface for that. We’re
not just trying to create our own ecosystem,
however wonderful an exclusive world of QSC
would be! We do see that we have to be a part
of this world of integration, so as we roll into
this new arena of corporate AV everything from
QSC will play well with other solutions. We will
be compatible, not least because potential
customers of ours may well have begun some
kind of standardisation on something else
and we want to make it easy for them to do
business with QSC.
However, we are not a part of OCA as we are
firmly behind progressive platforms that support
command and control scripting engines – Python
and Lua are examples of these. We’re not
constrained by trying to encapsulate every OCA
command structure, and we do have the ability
to command and control anything including OCA
and IT devices. This gives us the ability to say
‘yes’ to controlling anything.
Presumably that takes you beyond corporate
AV into other installation sectors too?
For sure: because of other features of Q-SYS
apart from those optimised for corporate
meeting rooms and so on, and especially with
our amplification and loudspeaker expertise,
I’m looking for opportunities in hospitality, in
transportation, in retail… QSC is already in many
of those, but one of my responsibilities is to
accelerate that diversification.
Having been acknowledged as a leading
businesswoman, do you have any views on
how pro audio/installation needs to break
the ‘glass ceiling’ in the boardroom?
Our industry continues to be male dominated –
however, we are making progress. I first became
involved with the issue of women in our industry
when I was invited to be on a panel for Women
In Audio at an AES show, early in my career. It
was a gift to be included and made aware of a
responsibility that I had to help other women.
Later I was a founding board member for
Women in AV and I’m also involved with Women
of InfoComm.
Groups like these support, uplift and help
women in their careers, offering a setting where
we are comfortable seeking out support. Many
men and women have helped and supported
me over the years – this is what I love about our
industry. So many people are willing and wanting
to help, with no hidden agendas. I feel as if I’m the
luckiest woman on the planet to not only be in
this industry, but to have had all the opportunities
and experiences I’ve had from the generosity and
help of others. My path has led me to QSC and
I’m looking forward to this challenge. I have the
opportunity to learn and grow from like-minded,
passionate people and from some of the most
brilliant minds in our industry.
19www.installation-international.com INTERVIEW: CORY SCHAEFFER, QSC
www.qsc.com
n CorySchaefferco-foundedListenTechnologiesin1998.
In2014shemovedfromvicepresidentofworldwide
salestovicepresidentofbusinessdevelopment
n In 2015 she spent four months as a VP of sales
in Harman’s corporate, education and government
business unit before joining QSC
n Schaeffer has been a board member and member of
the board of directors at InfoComm and has received
an InfoComm Women in AV award and an NSCA
Movers and Shakers accolade
A brief biography
‘QSCisspecial–it’suniqueforbeingas
largeasitis–anditstillholdsasmall-
companytypeofculturewithatalented
groupofpeopleandastructurethatis
unlikeanythingI’veseen’
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