
Ann Arbor's AV Integration Partner for 60+ Years
Sixty years. One name. One legacy.
AV innovation isn't just our motto. It's in our company's DNA. We started as Thalner Electronic Laboratories, a lab built around a local engineer named Bob Thalner, a regional expert who even owned the original copyright to the color video camera chip.
For years, we built broadcast video equipment right here in Ann Arbor. By the mid-to-late 1980s, the industry was shifting, and so were we. We ultimately moved from building out our own broadcast gear into providing more integration-focused services, installing the latest products from industry-leading manufacturers like Samsung, Sony, and Panasonic into complete systems for our clients.
In 2012, under different leadership, the company took on the name TEL Systems. It's a name a lot of our longtime clients and manufacturer partners still know us by, but at the end of the day, we still felt we wanted to honor and acknowledge our company's rich history as a local AV leader. So we've made the decision to go back to our roots and operate as Thalner again, offering our clients the same team and same commitment to the work, all operating from same building on Jackson Road we've called home for 60+ years.
That history matters because it's the reason clients trust us with more than a single install. We've been a strategic supplier to the University of Michigan for nearly 30 years, and we've built relationships with municipalities, corporate offices, and school districts across the region the same way: by showing up, doing the work right, and sticking around for the "day two" support long after the system is installed.
Leadership, sales and project teams
Meet our team: the people behind our AV innovation.
Select a team member to read their bio.

Tim Boggs
President

Nicholas LaChappelle
VP of Engineering

Greg McQuiston
VP of Operations

Brian Hoeft
Sales Manager

Scott Byers
Project Manager

Joe Harris
Integration Manager

Ron Ruth
Senior Account Manager

Maria Pate
Account Manager

Matt Bizer
Account Manager

Austin Boggs
Account Manager

Chris Lindsay
Inside Sales & Service Coordinator

Joan Knightley
Accounting
Industry-leading certifications & proud partnerships
Thalner has been a member of the PSNI Global Alliance for more than 25 years, serving as one of the organization's original integrator members. PSNI gives us access to training, executive-level education, and a network of AV integrators and manufacturers across the country and overseas. Practically, it means that if you need work done outside our normal service area, we can bring in a vetted PSNI affiliate to help fulfill it, and we do the same for other members' clients here in Michigan.
We're also an AVIXA lead member, and we hold ourselves to the training standards that come with it. Our engineers and programmers carry industry certifications including CTS-D and CTS-I, and we provide incentives for staff to pursue and maintain new certifications as the technology (and the bid requirements that come with it) keeps changing.
Our other industry certifications include:
- AQ/AV – AV9000 CQAD Certified Quality Assurance Designer
- Atlona Certified – Level 400/500 Authorized AV over IP Reseller
- AVIXA – APEX Certified Company
- AVIXA – CTS, CTS-D, CTS-I
- AMX – ACE-P, ACE-I
- Barco – Certified Specialists
- Biamp – AudiaFlex, Tesira
- Cambridge – Certified Masking Partner
- Cisco – Network Certified Engineer
- Crestron – DMC-D, DMC-E
- Crestron – Masters Certified (Silver Level)
- Dante Level 1 & 2 Certifications
- DMC-D DigitalMedia Certified Designer 4K
- DSEG – DSCE Digital Signage Certified Expert
- Extron – Certified Control Professionals
- Extron – AV Technologies for Designers
- EASE – Acoustics Software
- Kramer – Certified Digitalist
- OSHA – Construction Safety & Health
- Planar Video Wall Certified Installer
- Polycom – Voice Endpoint Sales & Technical Certifications
- QSC – Q-SYS Certified Professional
- Revolabs – Certified Specialist
- Shure – Technical Enablement IntelliMix
- SVSi – Networked AV Design
- SymNet – Networked Audio Solutions
- SynAudCon – Audio Certifications
- USGBC – LEED AP
Thalner: Designed to be your AV team for life
We don't think of ourselves as a company that sells you a video wall or audio speaker system and calls it a day. We want to be your trusted partner for all your audio-visual needs, giving you the equipment, team, and resources necessary to enhance your operations, collaboration, and reputation.
Every AV project we carry out starts with a needs assessment where we sit down with you, look at your space, and figure out what you actually need before we talk equipment. From there, our AV design & engineering team builds out the scope, our installers and in-house programmers bring it to life, and our service department stands behind it with a one-year warranty and ongoing maintenance contracts. We also offer on-site product demos so you can see and touch a system before you commit, as well as live event AV and equipment rental for grand openings, conferences, and one-off gatherings.
Every client gets a single account manager and project manager who stay with the job from the first conversation through installation, training, and years of support after — not a call center, and not a programmer working remotely on the other side of the country. Want to see our approach to AV innovation in action? Take a look at our featured projects to see our capabilities or request a project quote today to start the conversation that unlocks your AV potential.


















