Systemax Hires Former Best Buy Exec As New CEO

Sprosty most recently was a managing partner at The ROIG Group, a management consulting agency, and is a former senior vice president of Best Buy, where he worked for 11 years.

Robert Leeds, vice chairman, had been serving as CEO on an interim basis after Gilbert Fiorentino was ousted in April following an investigation of alleged failure to honor consumer rebates.

"David brings extensive and valuable experience in the retail and consumer electronics industry to our executive management team," said Richard Leeds, Systemax's chairman, in a statement. "He is a customer-centric and visionary business leader, with experience in strategic planning, operational execution and business development. He has a proven track record of success in delivering sustainable revenue growth throughout his career and in his 11 years at Best Buy was instrumental in the development of that retailer's connected devices business lines.

"Under David's leadership we believe the technology group will continue to execute on its current initiatives and grow into an even stronger contender within the consumer and business-to-business electronics sectors. Additionally, I'd like to thank Robert Leeds for his leadership as interim chief executive for the past several months, during which the technology group has made significant progress in becoming a more efficiently-run operation."

Systemax offers IT products through several brands including TigerDirect, CompUSA, Circuit City, MISCO, WStore and Global Industrial. In its most recent quarter ended June 30, Systemax earned $15.6 million on $872.2 million in sales, compared to earnings of $9.5 million on $805.9 million in the year-ago quarter.

"Systemax has built a unique web-centric, multi-channel retail model featuring distinctive consumer brands," said Sprosty in a statement. "I'm excited for the opportunity to take the technology products business to a new level."

In May, Systemax accepted the resignation of Fiorentino, a few weeks after it announced it intended to terminate his employment contract.

The company also reached an agreement to recoup $11 million in assets from Fiorentino, including 1.1 million shares owned by Fiorentino and 4480,000 in cash. After a whistleblower's claims, Systemax conducted an internal investigation and reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission about its findings of the improper rebate allegations.

"The matters investigated occurred over a number of years, did not have a material impact on Systemax's previously reported financial results in any reporting period, and were limited to the company's Miami operations," Systemax reported in May.