Indianapolis-based LDI Ltd. LLC, a closely held holding company of wholesale distribution and logistics business units, has appointed J.A. Lacy president and chief operating officer, the company announced Thursday.

The appointment, effective Nov. 14, is part of a company succession plan in which Lacy is expected to become CEO in 2013, succeeding David Shane, LDI’s current president and CEO. Shane, turns 65 in 2013, will take on the additional title of vice chairman next year.

Longtime executive Andre Lacy is company chairman and father of J.A. Lacy. Andre Lacy served as CEO until 2007.

J.A. Lacy is a 1987 graduate of the University of Notre Dame and received his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 1996. He most recently served as president and CEO of Indianapolis-based FinishMaster Inc., a publicly traded distributor of automotive paints and accessories, which was acquired by Canadian company Uni-Select Inc. early this year for $172 million.

LDI was co-founded as U.S. Corrugated-Fibre Box Co. in 1912 by Andre Lacy’s grandfather, Howard Lacy, and then guided by his father, also named Howard, beginning in 1952.

LDI began diversifying its holdings by buying and building wholesale distribution companies. In 1972, its name changed to Lacy Diversified Industries (later shortened to LDI Ltd.).