fort wayne indiana key people chuck surack founder president ceo john hopkins chief operating officer jeff radke chief sales officer marc leveridge chief financial officer david stewart chief marketing officer products musical instruments recording equipment and accessories revenue 433.1 million 1 number of employees 946 website www.sweetwater.com sweetwater is one of the united states largest dealers in musical equipment for musicians recording studios schools churches concert sound companies and broadcasters . sweetwater sells pro audio equipment digital recording systems pianos and keyboards guitars microphones mixers loudspeakers signal processors and drums . contents 1 history 2 expansion 3 philanthropy 3.1 majic miracle music 4 awards 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit chuck surack established the company in 1979 in fort wayne indiana so that he could stop being a touring musician . the company originally offered recording services via a remote recording studio in surack s volkswagen microbus and a recording studio based out of his home . 2 when the kurzweil k250 programmable keyboard and sampler was introduced in 1984 surack became known for his custom k250 sound library and programming skills as well as his upgrade kits . surack became a kurzweil dealer but his clients were asking for advice regarding other products as well . surack expanded sweetwater to become a music retailer whose emphasis was pre and post sale customer service . by 1990 with 6 employees and annual sales of 6 million sweetwater had outgrown surack s home and moved into its own commercial building . 3 4 in 1995 sweetwater mounted an informational website www.sweetwater.com and by 1999 most of the inventory was available for purchase online . 5 electronic musician included sweetwater.com as one of nine essential online information resources for a musician due to its 63 000 pages including instructional videos demos and technical documents . 6 expansion edit in 2006 with 220 employees and continued business growth sweetwater commissioned msktd & associates inc. to design and master plan a new 44 acre corporate campus . the new headquarters consisting of corporate offices a distribution center with warehouse and a retail store also included the sweetwater productions recording studio complex and 250 seat lares equipped performance theater both designed by russ berger design group . 7 8 sweetwater s new facility was certified leed platinum by the u.s. green building council in april 2009 . 9 philanthropy edit majic miracle music edit in 2006 sweetwater productions and local fort wayne radio station waji majic 95.1 started a partnership to record live acoustic music from nationally recognized artists and bands traveling through fort wayne . these recordings along with others have been used to produce majic miracle music charity cds to benefit riley hospital for children in indianapolis . artists who recorded at sweetwater productions for majic miracle music cds include reo speedwagon ingrid michaelson lenka aimee allen jars of clay landon pigg ben jelen josh kelley sara bareilles jon mclaughlin gin blossoms and collective soul . 10 awards edit 1994 inc. 500 america s fastest growing companies 11 1995 inc. 500 america s fastest growing companies 12 2005 music inc. independent retailer of the year 13 2006 northeastern indiana better business bureau torch award for business ethics integrity and honesty 14 2008 bca ten award for exceptional involvement with the arts that enrich the workplace education and the community from business committee for the arts bca . 15 2009 leed platinum award u.s. green building council for sweetwater s corporate headquarters and its environmentally friendly construction and management 16 2009 indiana governor s arts award presented september 25 2009 by governor mitch daniels at the cornerstone center for the arts muncie indiana 17 2012 music inc. retailer of the year 18 see also edit all pro sound american musical supply guitar center sam ash references edit sweetwater announces record year in 2015 . the music trades corporation . january 2016 . retrieved 10 may 2016 . prosoundnews mar 2008 . web bonus chuck surack founder and president matt ottinger biz voice magazine mar apr 2008 sweet sounds of success music world takes note of fort wayne company the music trades feb 2009 how soft selling powers growth at sweetwater internet archive . wayback machine . archived results for www.sweetwater.com starting from 1996 . electronic musician . gary yelton jun 2005 nine essential online resources modern steel . joshua snyder nov 2010 ecologically sound russ berger design group . sweetwater leed for new construction document sweetwater headquarters entrepreneur.com music trades . cd raises funds for children s hospital sweetwater . january 2008 . inc.com . inc. 5000 the fastest growing private companies in america . no. 264 sweetwater sound inc.com . inc. 5000 the fastest growing private companies in america . no. 341 sweetwater sound music inc. retail excellence awards music inc magazine dec 2005 waynedale news apr 2006 celebrating those who do it right kcur.org . laura spencer oct 2008 h & r block recognized for arts support u.s. green building council leed for new construction document sweetwater headquarters indiana governor s arts award sep 2009 music inc magazine retailer of the year dec 2012 external links edit sweetwater home page retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title sweetwater sound & oldid 737401248 categories retail companies of the united statesmusic retailers of the united statescompanies based in indianacompanies based in fort wayne indianacompanies established in 1979visitor attractions in fort wayne indiana navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom 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