Starkey Fires 4 of Its Top Executives

There are more questions than answers for now when it comes to privately held Starkey Hearing Technologies (Eden Prairie, MN) letting go of its president and three other top executives.

Chris Newmarker

There is a lot to be puzzled about right now when it comes to a management shakeup at one of the top hearing technology companies in the world.

It has been nearly a week since Starkey Hearing Technologies founder and CEO Bill Austin emailed employees to tell them he was letting go of president Jerry Ruzicka and three other top executives at the privately held company. (A report from September 10 by KARE suggests that a total of six employees were fired as part of a reorganization initiative.)

But on Monday, Starkey emailed Qmed the same statement from Austin that it emailed other media outlets last week: "We can't comment due to an ongoing investigation. There are no issues that affect our company, and it's business as usual."

Marshall Tanick, a prominent employment attorney in Minneapolis-St. Paul, confirmed to Qmed that he is now representing Ruzicka, but declined to disclose more information on the situation at this time.

Other executives let go include chief financial officer Scott Nelson, operations senior vice president Keith Guggenberger, and human resources vice president Larry W. Miller, according to the Star Tribune of Minneapolis. Two executive assistants also lost their jobs.

One executive assistant guessed to the Star Tribune that some kind of internal power struggle may have resulted in the firings.

Starkey operates 21 facilities and conducts business in more than 100 markets worldwide. It lists its employee numbers in the 1001 to 5000 range on LinkedIn. The 52-year-old company develops, manufactures, and distributes hearing aids through the Audibel, NuEar, MicroTech, AudioSync, and original Starkey brands.

Chris Newmarker is senior editor of Qmed and MPMN. Follow him on Twitter at @newmarker.

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