kenneth Kenneth Lazear
One of the principals in Communications Marketing Systems, Kenneth is a twenty-five+ year sales veteran of the telecommunications industry.

A graduate of The Ohio State University he began his career with Ohio Bell in 1981. He went to AT&T after the divestiture of the Bell System. He joined San/Bar Corporation in 1984 as a Regional Sales Manager selling customer premise and carrier equipment covering the Southwest.

After working for a manufacturer’s representative agency for four years he started his own agency, the first Communications Marketing Systems in 1990. By 2000 it had grown to a multi-city organization with almost fifty million dollars in sales.

He left the company in 2002 to run Electromedia of Colorado, an audio/visual integration company. He left Electtromedia at the end of 2005 and, along with his wife started S.K. Lazear & Associates. Michael Harnedy joined Ken in 2007 as a principal in the company and changed the name back to Communications Marketing Systems.

Ken is a member of the President’s Club of Ohio State University and the Colorado Telecommunications Association.

Michael Harnedy Michael K. Harnedy
One of the principals in Communications Marketing Systems, Mike is a graduate of Cal Poly University Pomona with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He has thirty years of experience in high level technology sales and marketing positions.

Mike began his career with Texas Instruments in 1976 as a manufacturing engineer and worked in that capacity for several years before transitioning into engineering design and field engineering positions. Prior to leaving Texas Instruments, in the late 80’s, for the telecommunications industry he worked in a number of senior sales and marketing roles.

After leaving TI he worked for Electrospace Systems selling secure communications systems and then transitioned to Burndy Corporation as the Western Regional Sales Manager covering the Regional Bell Operating Companies.

He finished his tenure at Burndy as the National Sales Manager for the Telecom market and grew the business, over a 5 year period, from $13 Million to over $65 Million in sales. Mike’s experience with structured cabling products is a result of 5 years experience with Panduit Corporation as the National Sales Manager for the Telecommunications Market and as Global Account Manager covering key global accounts. He joined Ken Lazear as a principal of Communications Marketing Systems in 2007.

Mike is an avid mountain biker and a member of the board of Sonoran Desert Mountain Bicyclists (SDMB). He has also provided sales consulting services to companies in the wind energy market and is a member of the Wind Tower Systems Advisory Board.

About Us

Who We Are

Communications Marketing Systems (CMS) is an independent sales agency specializing in products for the information technology, low voltage, security and structured cabling industries. CMS covers the Rocky Mountain region of the United States (AZ, CO, NM, UT, & WY). Our focus is to offer products that enhance voice, data, and video applications and provide cost effective solutions for existing and new facilities. Our goal is to gain market share and sales revenue growth for our manufacturers by demonstrating value-added solutions to our customers.

CMS is a re-inception of a successful manufacturer’s representative agency that was in business from 1990-2003. Both partners are focused on the business in their respective regions and have an ownership stake in the performance of the company. Ken Lazear covers CO, UT and WY and Mike Harnedy covers AZ and NM.

How We Market Our Manufacturers

CMS employs a “three-legged stool” approach to the market. These “three legs” of our strategy are the end user/consultant/engineer, the contractor, and the distributor. Each of these clients plays an important role in a successful marketing strategy and requires a different approach. Our first goal is to have our products specified at the end user level either by working with that customer directly or through their consulting engineering firm. We then work with their contractor(s) of choice to make sure they have all of the information they need for a successful installation. The third leg is the distributor. We work with the distribution to insure that they have accurate pricing and delivery information. This creates a successful opportunity where all three customer expectations are met if not exceeded. The long term results are customers that continually look to our products as excellent values and provides the opportunity for the additional discretionary business that comes from long term relationships with a customer base.

Our Experience

We collectively bring over 60 years of successful marketing and sales experience based on a background of employment with a wide variety of corporations both large and small. Over the past 15 years both CMS partners have focused on selling low voltage products and systems that have applications in information technology, telecommunications, security, audio/video, and structured cabling markets.

Our Resuts

In our first year (2007) of representation for our low voltage copper cable line we grew the business 233 percent.
Our fiber splice closure line grew over 35 percent with CMS having the largest percentage growth of any manufactures representative in 2007.
Our fiber splice closure line grew over 35 percent and CMS had the single largest sale of any manufactures. representative in 2007.
In 2006 we specified and sold the complete UPS solution for the Denver Children’s Hospital data center.

In our prior lives:

Ken grew CMS from $2 Million/year company at its inception in 1990 to $47 Million in 2000.
Mike grew Burndy’s telecommunications business from $13 Million in 1997 to over $65 Million in 2000.