Fresh on the heels of their dismissal of Mark Kresser as head of Miami-based Taurus USA, the Brazilian gun maker has just announced that they’ve hired Anthony Acitelli as President and CEO. Acitelli is a firearms industry vet and comes to Taurus from Colt where he was SVP of sales. Press release after the jump . . .
(Miami, FL) – Taurus Holdings, Inc. announces Anthony Acitelli as their new President and CEO. Taurus Holdings encompasses the Taurus®, Rossi®, Heritage and Diamondback FirearmsTM product lines.
Mr. Acitelli is a longstanding industry veteran and joins Taurus with over 20 years of experience in the firearms industry, spending the last year as Senior Vice President of Sales at Colt. He has a proven track record with manufacturers such as ATK where he progressed in the company to President of the Accessory Division. As part of Mr. Acitelli’s industry tenure, he served as VP of Sales for Tasco Worldwide and led the sales and marketing team at Federal Cartridge.
“Anthony will be a solid asset for Taurus with his ability to grow brands as well as his experience in leadership,” states Andre Balbi, President and CEO of Forjas Taurus. “We look forward to seeing Anthony’s direction as we continue to develop closer relationships with our distributors, retailers and consumers alike.”
Mr. Acitelli’s education runs deep with an MBA from Thunderbird Global Schools of Management, a bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of South Florida, a general management certificate from Harvard Business School and has had executive management training at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
I just realized you don’t do the “celeb X reads TTAG” thing anymore.
Isn’t Colt on the verge of bankruptcy because of their inept handling of the private market? In the U.S. Taurus is all private market.
Yes, Colt is drowning in debt. But Colt has been either neglecting, or abusing the private customers for 40 years.
I bought a .380 TCP for my wife. On the third round out of the third clip the gun exploded in her hand. Thank the Lord no serious injuries. I use the same brand of ammo for most of the firearms I own. I received a call from Taurus stating they could send the pieces back or sell me another for a “discount” aka wholesale. This is not a problem all Taurus 380 have, yet, there are people I found with the exact problems. I get the same robotic answers saying it was an ammo related issue that it was not their responsibility. I’m a Navy vet as is Anthony Acitelli, I’m also a Volunteer fireman who spent 4 days recently fighting the largest wildfire in Kansas history. This does not set me apart from other citizens, yet the Navy is a lifelong brotherhood. To sum it up, I have hit a brick wall and my wife has to use a non-reliable hi-point, as our family can not afford the expensive guns. Taurus is a great brand, inexpensive and reliable. A gift to my wife that made me feel incompetent and a warranty is a warranty. I do not understand and I’m pleading, any and all help would be appreciated. Thank you for your time and sorry so long winded. God bless and stay safe.
Is he being hired to turn it around, or make it a better buy for Freedom Arms?
Colts CS was as bad as Taurus the last time I dealt with them a year or so back.
Do you guys smell weasel?
I swear it smells like weasel.
It appears that Colt hired him away from ATK in October of ’13, and Colt, as a corporation, doesn’t seem the sort to turn on a dime, so it might be unfair to hold that against him.
“Thunderbird Global Schools of Management”? Is it just me or does that kind of sound fly by night? It almost sounds like a punchline, like Everclear Law School or something.
Tbird is actually a well-respected school, particularly in international management.
Now, whether or not this guy has a case of MBA cranio-rectal impaction remains to be seen.
i don’t buy into the whole MBA hype, but i too have heard that Tbird is pretty solid.
Thunderbird is one of the best schools you’ve never heard of, just like there are huge, and hugely successful, companies which no one outside of their industry has ever heard of.
Businessweek ranks the program as a whole at 45th. However, in the specialty of international business, they rank #2 behind U. of South Carolina and ahead of the three Ivy League M.B.A. programs in the 3rd through 5th places.
That said, program rankings are part art, part science, and a whole lot of brand awareness and bias. As an M.B.A., myself, I’d say that 80-90% of the value of a program comes from the students themselves. Everyone has the same facilities and teaches most of the same material, after all.
Instead, it’s the quality of the students and your interactions with each other (because much of an M.B.A. curriculum is team project based) which makes the real difference in your business school experience and your preparation for when released into the wild after graduation. If you’re smart and motivated, you’ll probably get what you need for success from just about anywhere you matriculate.
Did you go to Hollywood Upstairs Medical College too?
I don’t get it.
It’s a Simpsons quote from Dr Nick.
An MBA from T-bird and a BA from USF is education that “runs deep”?
Standards sure have been lowered in the outside world.
(Looks left – sees a PhD and 2 MSs – looks right – sees 2 PhDs and an MS)
So… another sales/marketing guy gets the top position?
Does Taurus want to penetrate the military market? ‘Cause nobody from Colt knows jack about the consumer market.
As soon as business slows some of these owners go for the quick fix. I think Mark K. was going in a good direction but probably not fast enough to suit the Brazilians. He had a lot of work to do to restore the consumer confidence ruined by the last administration who just wanted to ship boxes out the door. Taurus could be a heck of a line if they could just make it right. Anthony is a smart guy. Good luck to him in his new job. Colt’s problems have more to do with their debt than any management decisions. Let’s hope they can keep it together. They still make the finest rifle & 1911 in the biz, dollar for dollar.
1911 maybe ..
There’s at least 4-5 other brands of rifles I’d take over a Colt nowadays.
Can’t believe people still try to say Colt ARs are the holy grail.
Be willing to bet nothing changes. Don’t care anyway because I’ll never buy another Taurus product again.
It’s all a dog & pony show. No better than the politicians saying “I’ll make changes”. “I’m here for you”.
I don’t know why they keep putting these “Marketing/Sales” idiots as President/CEO. All these guys are interested in is the bottom dollar. They are freaking CLUELESS when it comes to product development and/or quality control. They seriously need to find someone that actually has experience in the engineering/product development/QUALITY side of the industry. This is why customer service is so bad. The “President/CEO” has absolutely NO freaking clue regarding the product development and engineering side of the business. This is why the customer is so disappointed with the product. Obviously there’s something DEFECTIVE with the product, so that’s why the customer is sending the product back to Taurus….to either FIX the problem, or REPLACE the product. And it seems even the replacement requires going back to the manufacturer for either the same problems, different problems, or both. EVERY SINGLE FIREARM from Taurus SHOULD be tested AND inspected BEFORE shipping out to consumers. The only time the gun should ever go back to Taurus is if/when something breaks due to normal use and NOT because of some engineering flaw or issues caused by poor quality control. I’ve read in some forums that the turnaround may take several weeks due to an abundance of firearms getting sent back to Taurus from consumers. Yes, Taurus has their LIFETIME warranty, but it doesn’t mean a damned thing if the gun spends most of its life back at Taurus for repairs. I believe Taurus needs to focus on the QUALITY of their products rather than sales and marketing. If you have a very HIGH QUALITY product, the sales and marketing will take care of itself.
I sent my PT709 slim to Tarus for repair in December 2017, or the company I bought it from sent it for the third time, I still don’t have my Pistol. The magazine would not pop out, it would release it but you had to take your fingers and pull it out, Every pistol I have will pop out the magazine with the click of the release button. Again this is the third time it has been sent back. The last time they sent a letter saying you gun has been adjusted I don’t want it adjusted, I want it fix or send me another new pistol. Over 31/2 months, come on! Does that time period mean Tarus is putting out a lot of faulty pistols? Where is my Pistol?