Following its acquisition of the DOD® and DigiTech® brands, Cor-Tek has rebuilt the brand’s Salt Lake City-based research and development team with an impressive staff of key, original members with over 70 years of collective experience with the brands. Longtime DOD/Digitech employees including Jim Pennock, Tom Cram, Roger Johnsen, and Parker Coons are back together again to head up innovation at the company known as “America’s Pedal”.
Jim Pennock is the General Manager and had all the right contacts to rebuild the Salt Lake team. His experience with DigiTech goes back to the mid-1980s when DOD Electronics first launched the DigiTech brand to focus on digital audio. Jim served as VP of Technology and Business Segment Director for DigiTech and holds 17 patents. Highlights from Jim’s career include the industry’s first multi-effects product (DSP128), multiple generations of custom DSP chips (AudioDNA2), guitar multi-effects (RP1 through RP2000+), countless new DSP effects (think Space Station and GSP2101), and the first downloadable pedal (iStomp).
DOD/DigiTech longtime marketer Tom Cram who launched his own pedal company, Spiral Effects, in 2018 has stepped up to lead the product strategy/vision, and social media operations for the team. His time at DOD/DigiTech dates back to 1995, when he started on the production floor but moved to marketing just a year later. After a brief hiatus to tour with his band Honest Engine, he returned to the company, gaining experience in dbx tech support and software. After helping to resurrect the DOD brand in 2012, he officially became the Digitech/DOD Marketing Manager in 2016.
Roger Johnsen was lured away from designing military drones to come onboard as VP of Engineering at DigiTech/DOD. He’s a 35-year industry veteran who originally assumed the reins for DOD in 1988, taking over from founder David O. DiFrancesco when he left the company. Roger is credited for being the silent “partner in crime” with DOD innovator Jason Lamb and managing the “Lamb Series” of extreme pedals. Roger is a true innovator and holds 32 U.S. patents from a wide range of start-up companies in Utah.
Parker Coons was working for Skullcandy when he got the call about joining the new team. He previously worked in the DOD/DigiTech engineering department for 10 years as a hardware designer with a deep love for guitar pedals. Parker is a world-class hardware designer with an impressive list of products that he has worked on including Rubberneck, Ricochet, Carcosa, and JamMan Express.
The bench strength of audio design engineers in the Salt Lake area is impressive. The team gets calls daily from many previous employees wanting to help the DOD and DigiTech brands come back to life and grow.
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