Atlantic Navigates Change In Control

By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 3/29/2004

Norwood, Mass. — Control of audio supplier Atlantic Technology returned to its original board of directors after management and consulting firm OAC Group sold the majority interest it purchased early last year to the board.

With the change, OAC partners Oscar Ciornei and Joshua Cooper have become consultants to Atlantic. Ciornei, a former Russound executive, had been Atlantic’s president and CEO for the past year, and Cooper had served as creative director and industrial designer. Atlantic founder and board chairman Peter Tribeman returns to active management as CEO.

The board, whose members regain 100 percent ownership with the change, said it "reluctantly accepted" Ciornei’s resignation as president and CEO. The board also said it would continue to implement the business plan that the OAC group developed during the past year and that it plans no distribution changes.

Ciornei said he resigned because "Atlantic Technology is well on its way toward making a stronger market presence..."

When OAC began managing the company a year ago, it said its main task was to reorganize the company to expand customer support, improve training and accelerate product development. OAC also renegotiated parts contracts to improve profitability, designed and developed a new line of home theater speakers, and co-developed Atlantic’s first distributed-audio system.