Chief Manufacturing started in 1978 in the basement of Bob Brantly’s home in Burnsville, Minnesota, as an operation focused on creating mounts for slide projectors. Chief quickly moved from the basement of Brantly’s home and by the mid-1980s was focused on products such as slide projector stackers. Chief made its initial mark on the industry by producing the original roll, pitch and yaw adjustments for projector mounts.
Meanwhile, across the town in Little Canada, Minn., Jim Wohlford started Sanus Systems in 1986 out of his garage, making high-end speaker stands. In 1998, a tornado destroyed the Sanus building, then located in Roseville, Minn. Not to be phased by a tornado, Sanus continued to grow, becoming a leader in manufacturing high-quality AV furniture, mounts and accessories. Sanus has since achieved industry acclaim for technical innovation and aesthetic design of its products.
Both Chief and Sanus experienced rapid growth: Chief on the commercial side of the business and Sanus on the retail side. Together they could unite as the largest mount manufacturer around the globe. And so they did.
In 2004, CSAV (Chief Sanus Audio Visual) was founded. When the two companies merged, it was important to maintain the connection with both the Chief and Sanus brands for its employees and customers. Now in 2007, continued growth, expansion into new product categories, and the addition of new brands like Vuepoint, Simplicity, and iC, the company realized the need for a broader corporate identity that reflects the long corporate history of achievement while providing a broad platform for continued product-line and brand expansion.
CSAV has now become Milestone AV Technologies.