By James Chevrette
Imagine trying to steer a newly reorganized company with 60 years of heritage while navigating the issues of 2025. This is exactly what Nick LoMonaco, CEO and President of Memphis Audio, had to do since the company shifted to an employee-owned structure about six months ago.
LoMonaco is known for his fancy shirts and brightly colored sunglasses, but what he focused on when he took the reins at Memphis was very simple, starting with inventory. The company had experienced trouble over the past few years keeping inventory flowing and communicating inventory levels to dealers. Fixing that was LoMonaco’s first order of business.
Another key task was making sure employees were all on the same page with the new company’s direction. One aspect of a company going independent is that the people jumping on board were those who really believed in the brand and wanted to be part of the new company, said LoMonaco.
“The past 60 years were amazing, but we worked under the umbrella of a corporation, and especially in 2025, you have to be able to pivot and change direction quickly due to the changing economic climate. We now have the ability to react faster.”
He emphasized the goal that every member of the team genuinely enjoyed car audio. To that end, employees owning demo audio systems in their cars is important to the company. Over 60 percent already have systems installed. Many of Memphis Audio’s products are very inexpensive and have a low barrier to entry. “There is no reason why someone shouldn’t have two 12-inch subwoofers in their car. This isn’t about supporting the company, this is about embracing the culture of car audio, the fun, the excitement, the smiles that music creates,” LoMonaco said.
While it’s important to focus on profits and the bottom line, sometimes you must disregard the Excel spreadsheets to do the right thing for the brand, said LoMonaco.
“For example, we still have 4×10 speakers and 4×6 speakers, and we know these are not profitable SKUs… “If I ran everything from a spreadsheet and said these weren’t very profitable, they might be discontinued. But we spoke to our dealer base, and they still require these speakers, so we will continue to support them.”
Memphis allows people to grow into their positions. “Blake Franchini, my college roommate and best friend from high school, is our marketing manager. Many people advised me to hire a seasoned professional marketing manager, but Blake has the ability to understand our vision for products and he understands car audio since he’s been immersed in it since we were in high school. And frankly, he has hit it out of the park!”
LoMonaco said it’s important that employees feel able to speak up if they believe the company is heading in the wrong direction. “I truly think this is the key to success for achieving the atmosphere, the culture, and the team that we are creating.”