Vista, Calif. — Directed Electronics changed its name to DEI Holdings, Inc., and restructured the company to better manage its portfolio of brands including Polk Audio, Definitive Technology, Directed Canada, plus the mobile electronics business based here, which will retain the Directed Electronics name.
Jim Minarik will continue as president and CEO of DEI Holdings with overall responsibility for the entire company, while Michael Simmons has been appointed president of Directed Electronics. Simmons was previously a marketing and product consultant to Directed under Kevin Duffy, now executive VP and chief financial officer of DEI Holdings.
Simmons will assume Minarik’s day-to-day responsibilities of running Directed Electronics, which handles Sirius products as well as the Viper, Python, Clifford and Orion brands. Simmons’ other previous roles include chief financial officer of custom audio manufacturer Sonance; CEO of TechSpace, a technology infrastructure provider; and various management positions at Ford Motor Company and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
DEI Holdings also announced the formation of a new senior officers group composed of Minarik, Duffy and Simmons, as well as Jim Herd, president of Polk Audio; Sandy Gross, president of Definitive Technology; and Derek Schuman, president of Directed Canada. Herd, Gross, Schumann and Simmons will be responsible for both the management of their individual businesses and in assisting Minarik and Duffy in the overall strategy and management of DEI Holdings. All will report directly to Minarik, said the company.
“These changes will more closely align our corporate structure and leadership roles with the day-to-day operations and responsibilities at the company. They will also allow our leadership to better focus on operational excellence at each of our businesses, while enabling Mr. Duffy and me to focus on achieving synergies across our portfolio of brands,” said Minarik, adding, “Our new name is also more appropriate for the collection of brands we are today and will better allow for possible future brand acquisitions to be housed under the DEI Holdings umbrella.”
Minarik has served as president and CEO of the company since 2001.
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