PROFILE
RICO LUCIA
By Andrew King
I
t hasn’t taken Rico Lucia long to rise the
ranks within TOA Canada Corporation.
At the beginning of the summer, Lucia
was named as the first-ever director
of TOA Canada, becoming one of only
five international directors within TOA
Corporation and the youngest ever appointed
after only a decade with the commercial and
professional audio and security giant.
Lucia first arrived at TOA Canada close
to 10 years ago, boasting an extensive back-
ground in security and sales. “My first job, at
14, was telemarketing, and then I was doing
door-to-door sales for many years, so that’s
where a lot of my core sales experience came
from,” he tells Professional Sound. It was after
high-school that his interest on the security
side solidified, enrolling to study law and se-
curity in college and getting both his secu-
rity guard and private investigator licenses
the day of his 18 th birthday.
“I’d gone to a security company when I was
16 or 17 to apply for a job, and they said, ‘You’re
too young; we can’t hire you until you’re 18,’”
Lucia recalls, adding with a laugh, “and I don’t
think they expected to see me a couple of
years later, when I walked right back in.”
Lucia worked as a security guard for a few
years while also conducting private investi-
gations, eventually going to work
for a security system dealer. “And
that’s when I started to learn about
alarms and private security systems
on all facets,” he shares, “from guard
services to emergency response
to retail investigations to private
investigations, insurance fraud…”
He spent another decade or
so in the security market, working
with everything from CCTV to ac-
cess control to intrusion systems,
all while audiovisual technologies
increasingly seeped into that sector.
That’s ultimately what led him to
TOA Canada close to 10 years ago.
“We were really growing the security
side of our business around that
time,” Lucia explains, now from the
perspective of a TOA Canada execu-
tive. “We were well known for our AV
technologies, so I was brought in as
they were starting to really expand
that vertical market.”
Interestingly, almost a decade
later, those two worlds are still merg-
ing. “It’s become a big melting pot
now,” Lucia asserts, “with telecom
and security companies coming
into AV and vice versa, so that’s
something we’ve always got top of
mind at TOA.”
In fact, that continual coming together
of various industries is one of the things he
enjoys most about his job. “We’re constantly
getting to work with new people on new
projects, as many of our customers are also
expanding their service offerings, so we enjoy
working with them on their growth,” he says.
“We consider ourselves an extension of their
companies, and try to help them find new
solutions and new ways to drive their sales.”
Considering his background in sales,
it’s no surprise that many of Lucia’s profes-
sional highlights with TOA Canada to date
are sales-related. Really, who wouldn’t boast a
bit about consistently breaking sales records
year-to-year?
“We’ve had ups and downs, but have been
consistently growing since I joined the team,”
he says proudly. “And thanks to the support
of our entire staff, since 2015, sales have really
catapulted.”
Lucia always enjoyed his time on the
road with the sales team, visiting end users
and customers and attending many trade
events. Since his promotion to general man-
ager in early 2016 and now with his most
recent appointment, though, he’s been on
the road less frequently; instead, he’s sticking
close to HQ and overseeing all operations of
the company, from marketing strategies to
customer support.
That said, he still has the opportunity to
travel, having recently returned from training
for his new position in Japan, where he’s set to
return later this fall for more meetings.
Outside of work, Lucia is a longtime mar-
tial arts enthusiast, having practiced his art
for over 25 years. What’s more, it’s an interest
that he now shares with his three children.
“They constantly keep us on our toes,” Lucia
says, also speaking on behalf of his wife. “After
work and on the weekends, it’s anything from
Girl Guides to Scouts to swimming lessons to
martial arts… The last five to 10 years, that’s
what life has morphed into for us, and we’re
having a lot of fun.”
Lucia is still getting acquainted with his
new role and all of the responsibilities it car-
ries, but he’s eager to get to work. “First and
foremost, we want to continue our recent
growth,” he says on behalf of his team, whom
he credits a great deal for his own success and
that of the company. And those efforts don’t
stop with TOA Canada; Lucia sees the value
in strengthening the industry nationwide,
and knows his company can be a leader in
that regard.
Relatively speaking, it hasn’t taken Rico
Lucia long to advance his career to this point,
and it shouldn’t take him long to start making
an impact in his new post.
Andrew King is the Editor-in-Chief of Professional Sound.
PROFESSIONAL SOUND 21