Ingram Micro Makes Changes At DBL, AVAD

By Steve Smith On May 18 2009 - 6:00am

Ingram Micro, which in recent years has acquired CE distributors DBL Distributing, based in Scottsdale, Ariz., and AVAD, based in Van Nuys, Calif., has taken closer control of both operations in separate back-to-back moves earlier this month.

In both cases Ingram put its own executives in control of day-to-day operations, reporting to John Soumbasakis, senior VP/general manager of strategic divisions for Ingram Micro North America.

On Friday, May 1, Ingram and DBL announced that Brent McCarty has been named VP/general manager of DBL and at the same time announced the departures of Henry Chiarelli, president, and Bruce Kuperman, sales senior VP.

The changes were effective immediately.

Chiarelli, who joined DBL in August 2006 and was appointed president in 2007 when the company was acquired by Ingram Micro, will remain as a strategic advisor to the new DBL leadership team to ensure a smooth transition for the next four months, according to Soumbasakis.

McCarty, who was senior director of VAR sales for Ingram Micro Canada, reports to Soumbasakis and is responsible for the day-to-day operations of DBL.

Soumbasakis told TWICE that DBL would “continue to be operated as a separate, autonomous business ... with its own vendor relationships” and that direct reports to Chiarelli and Kuperman will now report to McCarty.

There were no layoffs announced and no facility changes are planned at this time, he noted.

DBL is in the process of trying to “cross-sell products between DBL and Ingram Micro. We have done that before with other acquisitions and have leveraged it to great success in the past,” Soumbasakis said.

On Monday, May 4, AVAD announced that Jim Annes has been named its VP/general manager as part of a reorganization of the custom home electronics distributor that involves the consolidation of some branch offices.

Annes takes over for Soumbasakis who served as the interim leader of the distributor since the fall of 2008 when Bob Gartland, founding principal of AVAD, stepped down in September 2008, the company said.

Annes, along with the rest of the AVAD management team, will still report to Soumbasakis.

Another Ingram Micro exec, Annes joins AVAD after six years with the parent firm. He headed the company’s worldwide strategic planning unit for the past four years. Prior to Ingram Micro, he held management roles at KPMG Consulting and Brience.

In addition to the appointment of Annes, AVAD has named Wally Whinna to the position of sales and marketing executive VP as part of a strategy to consolidate its sales and marketing functions. Whinna, an original co-founder of AVAD, previously oversaw AVAD’s marketing department as marketing VP since the company’s inception in 1997.

AVAD’s new organizational structure is said to allow the company to consolidate from three regions to two — east and west. Steve Clark will serve as AVAD’s west region director and Kim Brown as east region director.

AVAD plans to significantly increase its phone-based customer support and sales programs to ensure the distributor’s customer base of 10,000 custom electronics dealers are serviced in a timely and professional manner, the distributor said.

“As with any organization, the current economic climate has forced AVAD to take a calculated evaluation of its business strategies and organizational structure,” said Soumbasakis. “We are confident these changes, which came after a careful decision making process by our management team, will improve our efficiency and customer service while streamlining our internal and external operations.”

As a result of its reorganization efforts, AVAD will consolidate the following branches based on a number of criteria, including close proximity to another, more viable AVAD branch: Austin, Texas; Avon, Ohio; Chicago; Las Vegas; Orlando, Fla.; Raleigh, N.C.; Richmond, Va.; Taunton, Mass.; Sacramento, Calif.; and Warren, Mich.

These moves came days after Ingram Micro reported its first-quarter results, showing a 21 percent decrease in sales to $6.75 billion for the prior year period. Net income for the quarter was $27.5 million, down from the prior-year period’s net income of $64.1 million. North American revenues, 41 percent of Ingram’s total revenues, were down 16 percent in the quarter to $2.77 billion.