Universal Revamps U.s. Distrib.

NEW YORK‹As the Universal/PolyGram consolidation continues, details are emerging about the integration of the two companies' U.S. distribution entities under the Universal Music and Video Distribution (UMVD) banner.
At press time, UMVD had no comment on the total number of jobs lost in the transition. However, sources estimate the tally to be 200 positions, including support staff.
As expected, Universal veteran Henry Droz retains the post of UMVD president, with Jim Urie and Craig Kornblau serving as executive VP/GMs (Billboard, Jan. 30). Other UMVD home office staff includes executive VP Bob Schnieders, VP of sales administration Skip Smith, and Mike Gillespie, who will head up the sales department.
In addition, UMVD has named three divisional VPs for its main regions: Mike Greene, Western division (including the Los Angeles, Seattle, and San Francisco regional offices); Jim Weatherson, Central division (encompassing Minneapolis, Chicago, Dallas, and Detroit); and Kyle Krause, Eastern division (comprising New York, Boston, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and Miami).
Former PolyGram Group Distribution senior VP of sales and branch distribution Van Fletcher was offered a senior West Coast position with UMVD, but he chose not to relocate and is leaving the company, according to sources.
UMVD has further named regional directors and marketing and/or sales managers for its 12 regional offices, all of which will be fully staffed with their own sales, marketing, artist development, field merchandising, sales account, and catalog executives‹including an artist development rep for each of the four Universal Music Group (UMG) label groups: Mercury/Island, Universal/Motown, Interscope/Geffen/A&M, and MCA.
The regional directors and their respective offices are as follows: Larry Hensley, Atlanta; Rich Grobecker, Boston; Bob Colosi, Chicago; Larry Howell, Dallas; Bill Schulte, Detroit; David Cline, Los Angeles; Rob Coble, Miami; Kathy Aderman, Minneapolis; Mike Farrell, New York; Ted Higashioka, San Francisco; Mike Jones, Seattle; and Bill Twyman, Washington, D.C.
Marketing directors appointed at press time include Shawn Fowler, Atlanta; Mike Khouri, Boston; Roger Christian, Chicago; Joe Courtney, Dallas; Bruce Bench, Detroit; Jimi Willis, Los Angeles; Stephanie Timberlake, Minneapolis; Ron DiMatteo, New York; David Foster, San Francisco; and Bill Walden, Washington, D.C.
The makeup of the new UMVD regional staff represents roughly a 50/50 breakdown between Universal and PolyGram employees, according to Droz. He says, "We haven't folded Universal into PolyGram, and we haven't folded PolyGram into Universal. We have truly taken what we consider to be the best of both organizations into a single organization. We are two cultures becoming a third culture, with a new structure, new staffing, new policies, and new procedures."
As part of its new structure, UMVD will divide its sales forces into separate components devoted to new "mainstream" releases and catalog, compilations, and reissues. The latter division will work closely with UMG's special markets and catalog operation, which will function as a full-fledged label group and be overseen by Bruce Resnikoff.
"We're going to be dealing with more releases than we ever have in the past‹or than anyone has dealt with in the past," says Droz. "We want to make sure that nothing falls through the cracks. We want to give new releases special attention, but we don't want catalog to suffer."
Commenting on the loss of jobs caused by the Universal/PolyGram consolidation, Droz says, "We are grateful for the contributions made by the employees affected by these changes, and we wish them the best in the future."