LEADING LIGHT

WORDS BY ROSA SOPHIA

An automotive enthusiast from a young age, Todd Ramsey was drawn into 12-volt, opening Competition Autosound with a partner in Oxnard, Calif. early in his career. He later worked to promote MECP with the Consumer Electronics Association. Through his work with MEA and Mobile Electronics magazine, SEMA, Mobile Solutions and MasterTech Expo, Ramsey made an indelible impact on the mobile electronics industry. His wife, Judy, recounted his evolution from shop owner to educator. The couple met in 1996 and moved from California to Phoenix, Ariz. in 1999 where Ramsey began teaching at Mobile Dynamics. “Along the way, he made a lot of contacts with people who are kings of the industry now,” she said. “He could recognize potential easily.”

His artistic side always played out in drawings and diagrams of car electronics, which Judy remembered seeing on everything from scraps of paper to cocktail napkins. “He and Larry Frederick would do this together,” she said, adding that during a conversation about a project, he’d sketch out ideas.

Everything with Ramsey had to be just-so: “When we had to hang something on the wall or reposition furniture, he’d measure and draw it out and use painter’s tape to outline where everything would go,” Judy said. “I would make fun of him for it, but I really appreciated it. We complemented each other that way.”

Kris Bulla of Sony Car Audio remembered meeting him around 1998, when he reached out to CTA after noticing errors in the advanced MECP test. “We hit it off in early 2000, when Chris Cook put together the first MECP test writing session in Denver, Colo,” he said.

Bulla recalled Ramsey’s steadfast encouragement. “I was a newbie then. He introduced me to a lot of people, and that became the foundation for my career. He scooped people up. It didn’t matter what your level of understanding was, or your experience, or what you aspired to be. He wanted you to succeed.”

Chris Cook, president of Mobile Electronics Association, echoed this sentiment, adding, “He was kindhearted and always willing to step up to a challenge.”

Cook and Ramsey became close personal friends after meeting in the early days of MECP, when they were both subject matter experts. Later, Ramsey worked as editor of Mobile Electronics magazine from 2010 to January 2011. However, Cook said, he’d served as a technical contributor to the publication beginning in the mid-1990s.

Over time, Ramsey and Bulla also became good friends. His influence was an inspiration to Bulla, who added that he endeavors to emulate that special lesson of mentorship which he learned from him.

“I want to live by that model. I try to emulate it,” he said, adding, “I try to scoop people up and push them forward, too.”

Impacting The Industry And Beyond

When Ramsey taught at Mobile Dynamics, Judy recalled how he’d come home and tell stories about particularly bright students, saying, “I might work for him one day.”

One of his students, Adam Devine of Devine Concepts in Naples, Fla., recalled meeting Todd in 2001. “It wasn’t long after I graduated high school,” he said, adding that all he wanted to do was work on cars. Disinterested in the usual university setting, Devine set out for Mobile Dynamics.

“If you had at least a 95 percent on every exam and 100 percent attendance, you’d get a letter of recommendation from Todd and the school. That was my focus. I studied hard, and he could see it. A few weeks in, he told me, ‘Keep pushing. You’re going to get that letter of recommendation.’ He said to me, ‘With how fast you’re picking it up, you could probably come back and teach here in a couple of years.’”

Judy confirmed that if Ramsey saw something in someone, and thought he could