Company History.

Make no mistake: money wasn’t what brought this team together. We enjoy business, and we like to make a profit. Our roots are in friendship, the show circuit and decades of building products. Many of those relationships grew because someone stepped in when help was needed. Everyone here has a purpose—and moves with purpose.

One of Jack’s earliest lessons came from Tony Bennett in LaPlace. At 14, Jack learned window tinting in Tony’s dirt-floor shop—and still laughs about how the finished tint stayed clean. Jack wanted tinted windows but couldn’t afford to pay for the installation. Tony taught him the basics, sold him film and encouraged him to give the work a shot. The job came out well, Tony was impressed, and their conversations soon turned to car audio. Tony’s audio store and sign shop kept them connected through different projects over the years, including Jack’s signs and banners. That practical help gave Jack a way forward when money was tight. Today the relationship continues through printing and branded gear for Orion Industries.

Jack Cali and Chad Morrison have been friends since high school. Jack’s path led from customer to installer and then owner of New Orleans Auto Sound on Jefferson Highway, while Chad pursued industrial instrumentation. They stayed connected through Jack’s stores, Crank It Up competitions and the first software interface for what became Drivesoft. Chad also helped fund Drivesoft’s early programs and development.

Nelson Murphy first met Jack at New Orleans Auto Sound, when Jack was a customer planning an ambitious truck-audio installation. Nelson stepped up to do the work, and their friendship grew into years of shared installation experience. Working together in 1989 and 1990, Nelson taught Jack many of his early 12-volt wiring and installation techniques. When Jack later bought the store, he brought Nelson back and they worked together again. Nelson eventually pursued opportunities in other states. Today, he supports the team’s limousine installation and repair work for clients in Las Vegas.

While competing with Orion, Jack set world records in his class and won shows. At one car-audio event, with Chad alongside him, he met Enrique M. Stiles. Jack was blowing speakers in competition; Enrique was there working to improve the ADS and Orion speaker lines. That shared problem began a lasting technical collaboration. Jack later founded Orion Industries USA. Enrique’s role draws on his speaker design and audio engineering background, including the a/d/s/ legacy now being revived through ADS USA.

David Gilmour’s connection with Jack reaches back to years around the same Orion cars and exhibition booths at SEMA, CES and national events. Both were photographing and filming the brand’s show presence year after year. Jack likes to imagine the “excuse me” and “my bad” moments they probably exchanged while stepping out of each other’s camera shots—back when a camcorder might occupy an entire shoulder. That shared show history connects David’s public-relations work and vintage Orion knowledge with the team today. He is part of the Legacy Group, recognizing the people and social-media communities that have kept vintage American-made Orion in the public eye.

Jeff Stewart’s connection to Orion reaches back to his high-school days, buying amplifiers and speakers at the back door of the original factory. That early enthusiasm continued into years of community support and Facebook group administration. Today, Jeff connects that legacy with the team’s hands-on production work, turning prototypes into machined parts and contributing commercial AV and networking experience. His place in the Legacy Group recognizes the work he has done to keep those communities active and useful.

Ryan Bollens worked alongside Jack at Orion’s Tempe factory, running the speaker assembly line and helping with testing, setup and the daily work that kept production moving. When the factory changed hands during the transition to Directed Electronics, Ryan acquired a substantial portion of its assets. He carried that manufacturing experience into his own speaker-building work, while staying involved in competition and vintage-audio restoration. His Astro van remains part of that story. Today, Ryan’s speaker knowledge and enthusiast-community work connect the assembly side of the team with the Legacy Group.

Jack first met Quinton “Q” Dodson at West Coast Customs in 2003. Q helped give Drivesoft its first national platform in car audio, connecting the team’s engineering with the custom-car world and television audiences. When an earlier business partnership broke down, Jack stepped in, and the two continued working as a team. Their relationship connects Q’s vehicle design, production experience and industry contacts with Drivesoft’s engineering and products.

Troy and Eric Tillinghast are our Custom Fabrication team, carrying forward a family tradition begun by William “Bill” Tillinghast in 1974. More than two decades of work with Drivesoft and Southern Electronics connect the fabrication, electronics and installation needed for complete packages.

A water-filter project opened the door.

When Jack first met Troy, he was running his audio store and developing water filters in his spare time. He was learning how the different filtration stages worked and building his own filters using raw GAC carbon and carbon blocks.

His first injection mold for the filter came in 1999. That project introduced him to designing parts around the injection-molding process, which later led him to learn about the deep-drawing process used in cookware manufacturing. Using the specialized tools in those facilities, he made his own deep-drawn stainless-steel water-filter cover. Names and logos were etched into the metal for a clean finish; the shop did not have a laser available.

That water-filter project brought Jack into Troy’s shop: he needed someone to cut material for it. A practical request began the relationship that would grow into decades of fabrication work together.

Mike K. has been Jack’s friend and business associate since 2002. As the early LiteStep implementation developed with Chad grew, Mike became Jack’s software wingman through Visual Basic, C/C++ and .NET. Their first major software project together was VSOMS, Jack’s competition-management system for USACI: Jack developed the system, and Mike built the database and server software. That partnership continued into Drivesoft’s multimedia, vehicle controls and RidePay.

Jack and Mitch S. connected through the mp3car.com community, where Mitch’s MJS Gadgets products complemented Drivesoft. They began developing together in 2012. The relationship grew through shared projects and rebuilding platforms when original development files were lost. On a client’s assistive-technology product, Jack and Mitch rebuilt the platform together, with Mike contributing application software. Today, all three work together on software, firmware and platform development.

Jack met Vincent “Vinnie” Carollo while arranging an oil change for his Audi S5 at Brian Harris Audi in Baton Rouge. Jack arrived in his Lamborghini, and Vinnie pointed out that he worked on those, too. That conversation started a friendship. Recognizing his mechanical ability, Jack encouraged Vinnie to leave the dealership world and build his own shop. Vinnie followed through, turning that ambition into Vinnie’s Exotics, now VEX European. For Jack, the shop’s success is another example of backing someone whose skill and work ethic he believed in.

Candice and Todd Constantine bring a family tradition of more than four decades in adaptive mobility. Their family’s work spans ambulance sales, accessible vehicle conversions and EZ Lock wheelchair docking systems. Today, Candice coordinates business operations while Todd and his shop crew handle product assembly and shipping. That experience connects the business and production sides of our disability and mobility work.

A Louisiana connection, by way of California.

Candice’s introduction to Q came during a trip to California through mutual friends. She happened to stop by West Coast Customs, where they became acquainted. Jack came into the operation a few months later. Although Candice and Jack had lived roughly five miles apart in Louisiana, they had not yet met.

Nearly eight years later, Q was in town working with Jack and Southern Electronics on a $24 million school-bus citation-system integration project. Q spent time with the EZ Lock group at a party while Jack stayed behind to work. Jack was focused on the citation project and didn’t yet know an EZ Lock development project was about to land on his desk. Later that evening, Q told him about a product whose original code had been lost and the need to rebuild and modernize it.

Jack first met Candice when she pulled into his driveway to pick up Q. It was an informal introduction. A later dinner at J. Alexander’s in Baton Rouge set the development work in motion.

About 30 days after that dinner, Jack, Mitch S. and Mike K. had completely reverse-engineered the product without a single piece of original paperwork. Four months after that, it was in full production.

When Jack came to Arizona to establish a new operation, the startup help he had expected didn’t materialize. Amanda E. stepped in when he needed someone he could count on. Her hands-on contribution grew into assembly, production coordination and parts inventory.

Brian H.’s connection came through a facility acquisition. As Jack took over the operation, Brian joined the team and brought practical knowledge of local people, materials and resources. He has since handled three Orion moves, helping the team get its facilities set up and working.

For roughly the past three years, Jack, Mike and Mitch have also been working behind the scenes to organize and bring together the team’s data. That ongoing collaboration is laying the groundwork for the next phase of Drivesoft AI.

Drivesoft’s original application and control software is developed in house by its own people, with Drivesoft retaining ownership and licensing rights.