Chuck Surack is an American entrepreneur, businessman, philanthropist, and musician, best known as the founder of

Sweetwater Sound Sweetwater is the largest online retailer of musical instruments and pro audio equipment in the United States, based out of Fort Wayne, Indiana. In August 2021, it was announced that its founder had stepped down as CEO after Providence Equity had ...

, a leading retailer of musical instruments and professional audio equipment.

Biography

Early life

Surack was born in

Waverly, Ohio Waverly (sometimes known as Waverly City) is a city in, and the county seat of, Pike County, Ohio, United States, located 14 miles south of Chillicothe. The population was 4,165 at the 2020 census. The town was formed in 1829, as the construct ...

, his family later relocating to Fort Wayne, Indiana. Surack was active in the

Boy Scouts Boy Scouts may refer to: * Boy Scout, a participant in the Boy Scout Movement. * Scouting, also known as the Boy Scout Movement. * An organisation in the Scouting Movement, although many of these organizations also have female members. There are ...

, and attended Wayne High School, where he played

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

in the school's

marching band A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who perform while marching, often for entertainment or competition. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. Most marching bands wear a uniform, ofte ...

. Following high school, Surack toured with a

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran *Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

as a saxophone player and

keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instr ...

. In 1979 Surack decided to stop touring, and returned to his hometown of Fort Wayne, where he has continued to work as a musician to the present day, playing saxophone and keyboard as part of two bands, Prime Time and the Sweetwater All Stars. Upon settling back in Fort Wayne in 1979, Surack created a

mobile Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ( ...

4-track

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing, and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enoug ...

within his

Volkswagen Bus Volkswagen Bus or Volkswagen Van is a type of vehicle produced by Volkswagen/Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. There have been a number of notable versions of it produced. Volkswagen Bus light commercial vehicles Six generations of Volkswagen Transp ...

Career

Sweetwater Sound

Surack later established a recording studio in his home and named it Sweetwater Sound. In 1985, he purchased a

Kurzweil K250 The Kurzweil K250, manufactured by Kurzweil Music Systems, was an early electronic musical instrument which produced sound from sampled sounds compressed in ROM, faster than common mass storage such as a disk drive. Acoustic sounds from bras ...

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

for use in the studio and commissioned an engineer to reverse engineer it in order to develop and use sounds of his own design, establishing Surack as an expert within the K250 community. Sweetwater Sound was eventually selling K250 sound libraries and became established as a Kurzweil K250 reseller. Being part of the small professional K250 community allowed Surack to develop relationships and work with artists such as

Kenny Rogers Kenneth Ray Rogers (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted mo ...

and

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

. Sweetwater began selling more and more pro audio equipment, and eventually Sweetwater's retail business surpassed its recording studio business. By 2016, Sweetwater had become the largest online retailer of music instruments and equipment in the U.S. Surack remains Founder and Chairman of Sweetwater Sound, with John Hopkins taking over as CEO in July 2021.

Sweet Family of Companies

Beginning in 2010, Surack acquired and founded several other businesses, which have come to be referred to as the Sweet Family of Companies. *SweetCars In February 2010, Surack submitted a proposal to convert an abandoned building on Jefferson Boulevard in Fort Wayne into a luxury car dealership to the Fort Wayne Redevelopment Commission, which agreed to transfer the property to Surack in exchange for his financial commitment to improve the property in order to open and operate the dealership. The car dealership, SweetCars, opened in December 2011. *Sweet Aviation In August 2011, Surack acquired the assets of Smith Field Air Services and established Sweet Aviation, a Fort Wayne flight school. *Longe Optical In September 2012, Surack purchased the assets of Longe Optical, a Fort Wayne-based optical business with 5 storefronts. *Sweet Helicopters In 2012, Surack founded Indiana Helicopters, a charter helicopter service based in

Goshen, Indiana Goshen ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Elkhart County, Indiana, United States. It is the smaller of the two principal cities of the Elkhart-Goshen Metropolitan Statistical Area, which in turn is part of the South Bend-Elkhart-Mishawaka ...

, and purchased Helimotion, an aerial film production and executive charter service based in Chicago, two years later. In August 2017 Indiana Helicopters merged with Helimotion to form Sweet Helicopters. *Aviation Specialty Insurance Surack also acquired Aviation Specialty Insurance, a company formerly known as Corporate Aviation Insurance Group (CAIG) that provides general aviation insurance services. *The Enstrom Helicopter Corporation In May of 2022, Surack purchased and became the owner of Enstrom Helicopters in Menominee, MI. *The Clyde Theatre In 2018, Surack increased his majority ownership stake to assume full ownership of The Clyde Theatre, a Fort Wayne

music venue A music venue is any location used for a concert or musical performance. Music venues range in size and location, from a small coffeehouse for folk music shows, an outdoor bandshell or bandstand or a concert hall to an indoor sports stadium. Ty ...

and event center. *The Club Room at the Clyde In 2019, he opened The Club Room at the Clyde, a

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

adjacent to the Clyde Theatre, *Crescendo Coffee and More In the summer of 2020, Surack opened Crescendo Coffee and More adjacent to the Club Room at the Clyde. *

Enstrom Helicopter Corporation The Enstrom Helicopter Corporation is an American helicopter aerospace manufacturer, based at the Menominee–Marinette Twin County Airport in Michigan, United States. The company was founded in 1959 by mining engineer Rudolph J. "Rudy" Ens ...

. This company's assets were purchased from bankruptcy in May 2022. In 2020, Surack purchased the former headquarters of

Pizza Hut Pizza Hut is an American multinational restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas by Dan and Frank Carney. They serve their signature pan pizza and other dishes including pasta, breadsticks and dessert at d ...

of Fort Wayne and improved it to create The Kaizen Center. Originally intended as a corporate event space, the facility now serves as the corporate offices for Surack Enterprises and its two subsidiary organizations: the Sweet Family of Companies and the Surack Family Foundation.

Philanthropy

Surack and his wife Lisa contribute to more than 600 nonprofit organizations annually, with past charitable donations to the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Arts United of Fort Wayne, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra, Easter Seals ARC of Northeast Indiana, and the Voices of Unity Youth Choir. Surack and his wife also established the Chuck and Lisa Surack Endowed Scholarship for Music Technology at the University of Saint Francis. In July 2021, Surack and his wife Lisa established the Surack Family Foundation, with the intention of providing grants to nonprofits in the areas of music and arts that they have historically supported, but also mental health, teenage suicide prevention, child and family welfare, and economic development in Northeast Indiana. He is currently the board chair for the

Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra The Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The orchestra's primary concert venues are the Embassy Theatre and the Auer Performance Hall at Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPF ...

, Global Leadership Summit & Beyond Fort Wayne, and the

Fort Wayne Children's Zoo The Fort Wayne Children's Zoo is a zoo in Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States. Since opening in 1965, the 1,000-animal zoo has been located on in Fort Wayne's Franke Park. The Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo is operated by the non-profit Fort Wayne Z ...

and holds positions on the Board of Directors of the

NAMM Foundation The NAMM Show is an annual event in the United States that is organized by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), who describe it as "the industry’s largest stage, uniting the global music, sound and entertainment technology commun ...

, Boys & Girls Club of Northeast Indiana, and Canterbury School.

Marriage and children

Surack is married to his wife Lisa, with whom he has two stepsons and a daughter, Adderly (whose name was influenced by the name of saxophonist

Cannonball Adderley Julian Edwin "Cannonball" Adderley (September 15, 1928August 8, 1975) was an American jazz alto saxophonist of the hard bop era of the 1950s and 1960s. Adderley is perhaps best remembered for the 1966 soul jazz single "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy", whi ...

). He has cited his father, Jim, a chemical engineer and airplane pilot, as a major influence.

Recognition

* 1997 Ernst and Young 1997 Northern Indiana Entrepreneur Of The Year * 2008 BCA 10 Award presented by the Business Committee of the Arts, in recognition of corporate support of the arts * 2008 Appleseed Award presented by Representative Mark Souder in recognition of the inclusion of numerous environmentally-friendly features at Sweetwater Sound's campus * 2009 Governor's Arts Award, presented by Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels in recognition of ongoing commitment to and support of the arts. * 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award awarded by the University of St. Francis School of Creative Arts for integrating electronic music instrument technologies, computers and traditional music practices into a modern art and science * 2009 Lugar Energy Patriot awarded by Indiana Senator Dick Lugar in recognition of leadership and initiative in taking action to improve America's energy security and promoting sustainable energy production and use. * 2012 Doctorate of Humane Letters from Indiana University * 2012 Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of Saint Francis * 2013 Inducted into the Indiana Academy by the Independent Colleges of Indiana for lifetimes of achievement and contribution to the state of Indiana * 2014 Humanitarian of the Year Award from the American Red Cross for humanitarian contributions to the local community * 2014 Leaders of Character Award from the Anthony Wayne Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America * 2015 Maclyn Parker Swagger Award by Greater Fort Wayne * 2015 Red Coat recipient from Mad Anthony Children's Foundation for recognition of accomplishments that help make Fort Wayne and the state of Indiana a better place * 2015 Citizen of the Year from the Journal Gazette * 2016 Lion Award by the Fort Wayne Urban League for immense community contributions and accolades * 2017 Legends of Leadership Award from the editors of Fort Wayne Business Weekly * 2018 awarded The Sagamore of the Wabash by Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb * 2018 Doctorate of Humane Letters from Taylor University * 2018 Inducted into the Indiana Boys and Girls Club Hall Of Fame * 2019 Indiana Chamber of Commerce's 2019 Ogletree Deakins Business Leader of the Year * 2022 Doctor of Humane Letters from Trine University

References

External links

*Chuck Surac
NAMM Oral History Program Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Surack, Chuck Living people Businesspeople from Indiana Philanthropists from Indiana American chief executives Fort Wayne, Indiana, People from People from Allen County, Indiana People from Waverly, Ohio Year of birth missing (living people)