TEI Group Welcomes New Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing

NEW YORK, November 30, 2020 - TEI Group is pleased to announce that J. Andrew "Andy" Koontz, Sr. has joined the TEI team as Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing, effective immediately.   "I am proud to join the TEI Group, a company that I've always had a great deal of respect for," said Koontz. "Ever since accepting my first position in the elevator industry as an Account Executive many years ago, I've been very fortunate to work closely with great leaders in the industry. Today, I bring a diverse skillset to the TEI Group to help drive strong sales, leading our successful company to greater heights."

Koontz recently held the position of Vice President of Vertical Transportation for Related Hudson Yards where he oversaw the elevator and escalator installations across the campus. His primary focus was 50 Hudson Yards, notable for the first NYC installation (and second in the US) of TKE's TWIN elevator system in which two elevators operate in one shaft independently of one another.   Seasoned in the vertical transportation industry, Koontz has worked at a variety of notable elevator companies, such as Otis Elevator, Millar Elevator, City Elevator, which was later acquired by Kone, and ThyssenKrupp. As fate would have it, Millar Elevator was where TEI Group President Mark Gregorio and Executive Vice President of Operations Michael J. Staub first met as mechanics, and it was also where Koontz met Gregorio as he completed his first maintenance survey in April 1992.  

Distinguished achievements include modernizations of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Rockefeller Center, and 1251 Avenue of the Americas, while working at Otis. He also played a major role in molding ThyssenKrupp into the largest construction operation in New York, culminating in the award of the Freedom Tower in March 2007. Later that year, he became the Project Manager for the installation of 71 elevators and 11 escalators at the Freedom Tower (aka One World Trade Center), and 7 elevators and 5 escalators at the National September 11 Museum and Memorial. The budget for the two projects exceeded $100 million.  

"I have known Andy for decades as we first met at Millar Elevator in the early 1990s. Our careers have moved along different paths, but we have a vast mutual respect for each other. In addition to Andy's vast technical and operational experiences in our industry, he happens to be a good person with high integrity and puts his team first," said TEI Group President Mark Gregorio. "I could not think of a more fitting person in the entire industry to lead our sales and customer service teams forward into the promising future of TEI Group. The timing of Andy joining TEI Group is perfectly aligned with our long- and short-term strategic goals. Join me in welcoming Andy to the TEI Group!"