Lincolnshire, Ill. - LG Electronics USA has realigned its regional sales operation into three geographic zones that have directors for its home entertainment (HE) and home appliance (HA) businesses.

In a letter to dealers, Rick Calacci, regional sales VP, said, "Effective immediately, we are shifting to three U.S. sales regions - East, Central and West - with dedicated teams in each zone focused on home appliances (HA) and home entertainment (HE), each reporting to me."

The South region has been split between the new West and East operations.

The directors for each region are:

• East: Tina Lobins, HA sales director, and James Capizzi, HE sales director. Capizzi joins LG from Panasonic.

• Central: John Ostwald, HA sales director. Andrew Terry has been promoted to HE sales manager. He was previously responsible for handling LG's hhgregg business.

• West: Ray French has been named HA sales director. Joining LG from Time Warner Entertainment is Ron Sreenan, who has been named HE sales director for the region. Prior to Time Warner Sreenan was with Toshiba.

Sales training, which used to report to regional directors, will now report to Keith Noval, learning director. "We believe our stepped-up sales training activity will be a competitive differentiator for LG ... going forward," Calacci said in his letter.

His message to his retail customers went on to say, "In concert with marketing, supply chain and go-to-market operations, we are developing exciting sales programs across the country to deliver profitable revenue growth, successful new product introductions and greater value for you, our valued customer."