Sweetwater

Great music educators don’t just develop great musicians. They help young people discover confidence, discipline, belonging, and what they’re capable of achieving. We’re thrilled to congratulate Jason Witzigreuter, Associate Director of Bands at Homestead High School in Fort Wayne, on being named the Indiana Department of Education’s 2027 Teacher of the Year. During his 28-year career in education, Jason has made an extraordinary impact on students through music, mentorship, and the relationships he builds every day. His recognition is a powerful reminder of the role music educators play in shaping young lives. For Jason, that work has always been about the students and the relationships that help them succeed. “The privilege to work with amazing students each day has never been just a job,” he said. “I love building trusting relationships with my students and helping them find great joy making music. To have a partner like Sweetwater, with amazing, highly qualified musicians and educators on staff always there to help take care of our students, is like no other relationship in the country. I take great pride teaching in an awesome community that supports music education.” We work closely with music educators and school systems across the country to give teachers the instruments, equipment, expertise, and support they need to build thriving programs. Through our national instrument rental program, we work hard to make it easier for families to get the right high-quality instruments into their students’ hands and to give their musical journeys the best start possible. We're proud to support music educators, and it's especially meaningful when that work happens just down the road. Congratulations, Jason, on this well-deserved honor and on representing the extraordinary work music educators are doing here in our hometown and across Indiana. #WeAreSweetwater #FullTimeDream

Most people never get the chance to personally ask legendary bassist Billy Sheehan about his setup and style. Last weekend, anyone who walked into the Sweetwater Music Store could. It was our first Yamaha Takeover of the Sweetwater Music Store, and every room had something new to explore. Billy Sheehan, David Garibaldi, Parker Hastings, and Shannon Larkin spent the day meeting customers, jamming, talking gear, and trading stories with musicians of every level. Yamaha product specialists were on hand to demo new gear, answer questions, and let customers try things for themselves. That kind of personal connection is what Sweetwater has been about from the start, and it goes well beyond our Music Store. Every Sweetwater customer experiences it when our tech support team helps them through a tricky setup, when their guitar is inspected by hand before it ships, and when the person on the other end of the phone really knows their gear. Wherever musicians find us, Sweetwater is about pairing them with people who know music and care about getting it right. Thank you to Yamaha Corporation and Yamaha Guitar Group for bringing so much to the store, to Billy, David, Parker, and Shannon for spending the day with our customers, and to everyone who came out to be part of a great day of music and connection. #WeAreSweetwater #FullTimeDream

Sweetwater Senior Vice President and Chief Sales Officer David Fuhr traded the conference room for the conductor’s podium recently, joining the Fort Wayne Philharmonic as a guest conductor for a performance of Toto’s classic, “Africa.” The moment came during the Philharmonic’s Summer Breeze: Yacht Rock Classics concert at the Sweetwater Pavilion, featuring orchestral arrangements of some of the most memorable soft rock and jazz-infused songs of the late ’70s and early ’80s. For David, the connection to the Philharmonic runs deeper than one night onstage. He also serves as Chairman of its Board of Directors, helping support an organization that has been bringing live music to our community for more than a century. “As a former conductor, it was a privilege to be able to lead the musicians of our Fort Wayne Philharmonic in this weekend’s Yacht Rock concert. It was so exciting to pick up the baton and perform at Sweetwater Pavilion,” said David. It was a memorable night of music and a pretty great way to see one of our own take the lead in an entirely different setting. #WeAreSweetwater #FullTimeDream

At Sweetwater, great customer service starts with something simple. Know your customer, listen closely, and give your people the freedom to do what’s right. That approach has shaped Sweetwater for nearly five decades and is at the heart of a new Authority Magazine interview with CEO Mike Clem, conducted by Tavares Beverly. Mike shares how we’ve built a culture around creating genuine relationships with customers, empowering employees to solve problems, and innovating in ways that further enhance human connection. As Mike puts it, “Every data point on a spreadsheet is a real human being with feelings, with emotions.” In the conversation, Mike also shares five principles that keep us focused on continually raising the bar for our customers, including staying close to the front lines, obsessing over the details, removing barriers to human connection, and learning from every interaction. Exceptional service isn’t about getting everything right every time. It’s about listening, responding, learning, and finding ways to be even better the next time. Read the full interview with Authority magazine at https://lnkd.in/eMU-u-2e. #WeAreSweetwater #FullTimeDream

Rain tried to 404 the festivities, but our IT team found a workaround! Great teams aren’t built only in meetings, on projects, or behind screens. They’re built in the moments between the work, when people have a chance to connect, laugh, compete, and simply enjoy being part of a team. That’s the idea behind our annual IT Fun Day. This year, our IT team stepped away from the day-to-day for an extended lunch filled with great food, sweet treats from Kona Ice, giveaways from our vendor partners, yard games, and plenty of friendly competition. Stowaway, a band made up almost entirely of Sweetwater IT team members, took the stage and gave the afternoon its own live soundtrack. The work our IT team does touches nearly every corner of Sweetwater, and strong relationships make that work stronger. IT Fun Day gives the people behind that work a chance to spend time together outside their usual roles, build connections across the team, and create some shared memories along the way. #WeAreSweetwater #FullTimeDream

Humane Fort Wayne recently brought some very special visitors to Sweetwater, and judging by the smiles, our employees were more than happy to clear a little room in their schedules. Paws & Relax gave our teams a chance to step away from the workday, spend some time with adoptable dogs, and enjoy a little extra joy, connection, and puppy energy on campus. It’s a simple idea, but moments like these are part of how we care for our people. Creating a great place to work means making space to recharge, connect with one another, and occasionally get completely distracted by a puppy. We loved welcoming Humane Fort Wayne back to Sweetwater and helping give these deserving dogs plenty of new friends, attention, and belly rubs. #WeAreSweetwater #FullTimeDream

The connection between manufacturers, our people, and musicians is a big part of what makes Sweetwater different. Only at Sweetwater can a visit from a music industry legend turn into an opportunity for our teams to connect directly with someone who spent a lifetime shaping the instruments and stories behind the music we love. We recently had the pleasure of welcoming Fred Gretsch, President of Fred Gretsch Enterprises and the great-grandson of the Gretsch Company founder Friedrich Gretsch, to our campus. Fred toured our Distribution Center and Guitar Gallery, spent time with our Guitar Workshop team, and joined employees to share stories, insights, and his unmistakable joy and passion for music making. Experiences like this are possible because of the relationships we’ve built with our vendor partners over decades. Those relationships go far beyond the gear we sell. They give our people opportunities to learn directly from the people behind the brands, deepen their expertise, and bring that knowledge and enthusiasm back to our customers. Thanks to Fred for spending the day with us and sharing a little of the Gretsch spirit with our team. #WeAreSweetwater #FullTimeDream

We’re honored to be named one of the 2026 Global Top 100 Inspiring Places to Work, recognizing Sweetwater among the highest-scoring organizations around the world for creating a workplace where people and performance thrive together. This global recognition builds on a growing list of honors from The Inspiring Workplaces Group. In 2026, Sweetwater was named a North America Top 100 Inspiring Workplace and recognized for Culture & Purpose, Employee Experience, Wellbeing, and Inclusion. In 2025, we were recognized among both the Global Top 100 and North America Top 100, along with honors for Wellbeing and Inclusion. Our journey began with our first North America Top 100 recognition in 2024. Year after year, we’re continuing to invest in our people and build a workplace where employees feel supported, valued, and empowered to do their best work. Awards like this are meaningful because they reflect something we care deeply about: creating a place where great people can do great work, grow their careers, feel supported, and know that what they contribute matters. #WeAreSweetwater #FullTimeDream #InspiringPlacestoWork

For us, employee well-being is more than a simple program or an initiative. It’s an ongoing commitment to listening to our people, understanding what they need, and continuing to find meaningful ways to make Sweetwater a better place to work and build a career. That’s why we’re honored to be named one of the 2026 Healthiest Employers® of Indiana, recognizing our commitment to creating a workplace where employees feel supported, valued, and empowered to be at their best. We’re grateful to be recognized among the healthiest employers in Indiana and even more grateful for the people who make Sweetwater the kind of place worth investing in. #WeAreSweetwater #FullTimeDream

At Sweetwater, technology has never been the point. People and relationships are. For years, we’ve used technology to help our people spend more time doing what they do best: listening, sharing their expertise, solving problems, and building real relationships with customers. That remains true in the age of AI. Sweetwater Senior Vice President and Chief People & Culture Officer Jeff Ostermann recently joined Barb Bidan on The Human Element to talk about how we’re thinking about what comes next. We see AI as a powerful layer of support around our people, helping them access information faster, reduce administrative work, and focus more of their time where it matters most: with customers. Technology will continue to change. But the purpose remains the same. Our people and the relationships they support have always been the heart of Sweetwater. Thanks to Barb for the thoughtful conversation. Listen to the full episode at https://lnkd.in/ejWZr8xH. #WeAreSweetwater #FullTimeDream