Joe Bentivegna, President, is responsible for building the teams that manage Line 6's supply chain, providing outstanding customer service and delivering world-class products. He was most recently Executive Vice President of Operations and services for Equallogic, a company in the high-capacity storage space subsequently acquired by Dell.
Prior to Equallogic, Mr. Bentivegna held several positions during his 16-year tenure at Avid Technology, during which time Avid grew from a small, vertically focused video company to a leader in digital media and audio. His most recent positions included Chief Operating Officer for the Video Division, President and General Manager of Avid Technology Asia, Vice President of Worldwide Operations, and Vice President of European Operations and Services. Mr. Bentivegna brings a proven track record of success to help lead Line 6 through its continued growth.
Kathy Cipolla, Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer, heads up the Yamaha Guitar Group Finance, Accounting, and Human Resources teams. Before joining YGG, Kathy was the VP of Finance at Trader Joe's Company, prior to which she served as VP of Finance for Sbarro, LLC. Kathy earned her accounting degree at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and holds an MBA in Finance from California State University, Long Beach. She has volunteered with the BSA Scouting organization for many years, enjoys spending time in the outdoors, and is currently learning to play the guitar.
Simon Jones, Vice President of Marketing, heads up a diverse and talented group of marketers who develop strategic plans, creative content, direct customer communications, product training and who enable the sales team through channel marketing programs.
Getting a taste for working in audio as an intern at EMI and Abbey Road Studios, he started his career in the role of R&D Engineer with Martin Audio, London, designing high performance speaker systems. A product management position with JBL Professional brought Mr. Jones to the USA. He spent twelve years with JBL in senior marketing positions, with an additional two years in a marketing director role with the TC Group. He also spent time consulting for RKS Guitars in their start-up phase.
Simon’s path started with his high school teacher’s after-school guitar building club, which led to a B. Eng. 1st with Honors in Electroacoustics from the University of Salford, England. Simon is still passionate about everything guitar and plays regularly. He has spent the past twenty years volunteering for Ride On, a non-profit therapeutic horsemanship program, in an advisory role and providing audio and emcee services for their special events and fundraising.
Steve Bartkoski, Vice President of Products and Operations, heads up a talented a diverse team responsible for product and lifecycle planning, supply chain and manufacturing operations, inventory planning, logistics, and customer service and support.
Accumulating over 22 years of experience in Music Instrument sales, distributrion and manufacturing, Steve has led the Worldwide sales teams for Yamaha Guitar Group brands as well as M-Audio and Avid. He has Bachelor's of Music Education and a Master Degree in Jazz Piano Performance and Composition from the University of North Texas. He continues to perform, arrange, and compose in addition to his duties at Line 6.
Brian McLeskey, Vice President of Engineering, leads the highly talented, multidisciplinary, engineering team that brings our products to life.
Formerly Vice President, Research and Development for Fender Musical Instruments, Brian held many positions at Fender with increasing responsibilities over his 17 years there. He led the engineering team that was responsible for Jackson, Charvel, EVH and Grestch products. In addition, he was a key member of the digital hardware design team. He has worked closely with high level artists in the industry and has been responsible for many world renown products. Brian has also worked at AVAYA, Inc (Bell Labs) and Mitel Networks. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronics Engineering Technology from Brigham Young University and a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Brian began playing piano when he was 5 and guitar when he was 12. He is an avid guitarist who has a deep passion for music and musical instruments.
When he’s not spending time with his wife and children, Brian enjoys disc golf, reading and volunteering in the community.
TJ Martin, Vice President of Sales, is responsible for sales activities throughout the world. He works with YGG’s sales team in an ongoing effort to deliver best possible results for distributors, dealers, and end users alike.
Prior to joining Yamaha Guitar Group in 2014, Mr. Martin was with Avid and focused primarily on the M-Audio brand. For many years, he was able to work with such brands as Nord, ddrum, Novation, Oberheim, and Dean Guitars, among others. TJ started in retail in the Detroit area in the mid-90s and considers himself lucky to be part of the MI Industry.
Mike Bayer serves as General Counsel and Head of Business Development for Yamaha Guitar Group. Mr. Bayer handles all of the Company's legal and business affairs, overseeing transactional contracts, the intellectual property portfolio, litigation, rights and clearances, corporate compliance, and employment law matters. In his Business Development role, he also identifies new opportunities for potential investment and M&A, including the 2023 acquisition of Cordoba Music Group.
Prior to Yamaha, Mr. Bayer served as General Counsel of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. Prior to working in the musical instrument business, Mr. Bayer served as an executive in the film industry, with General Counsel posts at Miramax, Saban Brands and Image Entertainment, as well as a Senior Director of Business and Legal Affairs role at Paramount Pictures.
Originally from Asheville, North Carolina, Mr. Bayer enjoys playing acoustic guitar, skiing, surfing and mountaineering (including a recent summit of 23,000 foot Aconcagua in the Andes of Argentina).