Corey Ray

This month, we’re highlighting Corey—a Systems Designer and Account Manager all in one, whose journey into the AV world started with a spark of curiosity and a cousin already deep in the field. What began with long, sweaty Texas summers pulling wire through attics turned into a full-blown career driven by a passion for problem-solving and making technology make sense. “I learned a lot – mainly that technology is awesome but attics in the summer are not.”

“I once spent an entire Texas summer retrofitting wire through attics… and still decided to stay in this industry. That either shows my passion… or my questionable decision-making skills.”  Sense of humor is not lacking nor is his committed passion.  

Corey thrives on custom design/build projects—especially when there’s a real challenge to tackle. Whether it’s AV, security, surveillance, or access control, he fires on all cylinders when asked to engineer a creative solution. 

One of his favorite client moments? One time, a client said, “I don’t care how you do it, just make it work.” And Corey’s mind… “Challenge accepted.” “It turned into a full-blown puzzle of cables, code, and creativity — and when it all came together, the client’s jaw literally dropped. Those moments never get old.”

He recently celebrated a major milestone: closing and delivering the largest project of his three-year sales career—with smooth execution and big potential for future opportunities. While field teams often get the spotlight (and deserve it!), Corey reminds us that every great outcome starts long before the first cable gets pulled—with client trust, vision, listening and more than a little sweat equity on the design side.

Outside of work, Corey is all about family and sports—supporting his kids on the field, perfecting his brisket on the grill like it is an Olympic event, or sneaking in a recovery swim. He brings the same energy to leadership podcasts like The Learning Leader Show with Ryan Hawk and lives by a rallying cry from mentor and owner of Texadia, Steve Burke: “GET ’EM UP HERE!”—a reminder to make relationships personal and bring clients face-to-face with what’s possible.

Corey may joke about wanting a superpower that forces clients to reveal their budget upfront (seriously, who wouldn’t?), but in reality, the power to have potential customers immediately share their budget would save everyone so much time, prevent 37 rounds of “what if we…” conversations, and keep him from playing a continuous guessing game.  It’s his persistence, personality, and passion that keeps raising the bar even with a lack of budget information.