Meet the Team

With Meet The HARMAN Luxury Team, our goal is for you to get to know us better. In each edition we feature a different member of the team, and this month it's Thomas Wahnish | Engineer, New Technology & Innovation, Consumer Audio.

How would you describe what you do in your current role?

I’ll be working on transducer and system-level design.

What did you study in school? Did you always imagine yourself doing something like what you’re doing now or did the fates just take you in that direction?

I completed my bachelor’s degree in music and my master’s degree in acoustical engineering at the University of Southampton. I’ve always been passionate about playing and creating new music. Working at HARMAN has allowed me to be a part of creating new audio technologies but on a technical level.

How did your career path lead you to HARMAN?

The early Harman/Kardon computer speakers caught my eye since I was a kid which is one of the reasons why I decided to do my master’s degree in acoustics. Years later when I was working in architectural acoustics, I’d drive through Connecticut to job sites and would see the HARMAN HQ building in the distance. This led me to go on the HARMAN website and see what opportunities there were.

What is the most important thing you have learned over your career?

The more passionate you are about a topic, the hungrier you are to learn everything about it.

Any other advice you would share with people just starting out in this industry?

Find someone to mentor you and stay flexible with your career path.

What are you most proud of in your life?

Packing up my life and moving out here to California in two weeks without knowing anyone or anything about Los Angeles.

When did you realize you had a passion for music or audio? Was there any one band, song, or movie that did it for you?

I went to high school in France where I discovered the classical guitar. Being exposed to all of the orchestra and classical guitar concerts made me realize that I wanted to be a part of that world.

What current technology impresses you the most?

Humanoid robots. They impress me and worry me at the same time!

Favorite music genre?

Indie rock / alternative

The desert island question, of course. If you were marooned for eternity & could listen to only 3 albums, what would they be?

Radiohead – Ok Computer

Sonic Youth – Murray Street

Goo Goo Dolls – Dizzy Up The Girl          

You have the floor. In closing, tell us anything else you want us to know about yourself.

I’m an avid runner and have run the NYC marathon and 13 half marathons.