Micro D’s President Is Forced Out : Lionetti’s Duties Will Be Divided Between 2 Officers

Micro D Inc., one of the nation’s largest distributors of computer software and accessories, forced its recently appointed president to resign as part of a major management reorganization that it revealed Monday.

The Santa Ana company said that the resignation of Richard G. Lionetti, who became president eight months ago, takes effect immediately and that he will not be replaced. His duties, which centered on overseeing the company’s marketing and distribution activities, will be divided between Micro D’s executive vice president and its chief of finance, the company said.

Lorraine Mecca, founder and chief executive of the 6-year-old company, said the reorganization is a reaction to changes in the computer industry and not a response to a 36% drop in the company’s fiscal 1984 earnings. She said that during the past two years, more and more computer product makers have been doing their own consumer marketing. That trend has become especially pronounced in the past 12 months, she added.

Data on New Products Micro D, like many other distributors, had been structured to perform the task of informing customers, primarily retailers, about new products.

“Our role has shifted from marketing manufacturers’ products to concentrating on what we do,” Mecca said. “What we do is buy, sell, ship (products) and collect money.”

“We used to have to call customers to tell them about the lastest products,” she said. “Now they call and tell us what they want. Customers are being educated by the manufacturers. Manufacturers are creating the demand. That role for the distributor is over. That’s how it should be.”

Lionetti, who has a strong background in computer product marketing, joined Micro D in October, 1983, and took over as president from Mecca last May. He could not be reached for comment Monday. Mecca said Micro D is not looking for a replacement for Lionetti and that “it has not yet been discussed” whether she will once again become the company’s president.

Mecca founded Micro D in 1979 with $50,000. In 1983, when the company earned $1.2 million on sales of $71 million, she took the company public in a $25-million offering that made her a millionaire overnight.

The company’s first financial setback came last fall, when it had to write off $1.1 million in uncollectable accounts and $1.4 million in unsold inventory. The company reported a loss of $801,00 for the fourth quarter of fiscal 1984, which ended Oct. 31, and earnings for the year fell to $708,000 despite a 60% increase in sales.

The company, which has major warehouses in Santa Ana, Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, San Francisco and Columbia, Md., has said it expects to earn a profit in the first quarter of fiscal 1985.