Software Industry Players Witnessing Leadership Changes: Microsoft, SAP, Adobe & Others

Samer Abu Ltaif has been appointed as the new President for the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region. Abu Ltaif, who joined Microsoft in 2004, has held many senior roles within the organization including regional director for enterprise and partner group across MEA. Most recently, he was the Regional General Manager of Microsoft Gulf.

SAP Appoints General Manager of SAP Digital Commerce  

SAP appointed Madhur Aggarwal as general manager of SAP Digital Commerce, reporting to chief digital officer Jonathan Becher. Madhur has been instrumental in the creation and growth of SAPs digital business since its inception in 2015, and has had multiple roles on the team, from COO to chief product owner. In those roles, he has demonstrated extraordinary passion and dedication to SAPs digital success.

Adobe Combines Chair-CEO Roles and Appoints Lead Director; Hires Chief Accounting Officer from Qualcomm

Adobe announced that its Board of Directors has elected Shantanu Narayen as Chairman of the Board. Narayen will continue in his role as President and CEO of Adobe and succeeds Co-Chairs and Co-Founders of the company, John Warnock and Chuck Geschke, who will remain on the Board.

The company also announced that board member Jim Daley, a 35-year Price Waterhouse veteran and prior CFO of a publicly traded technology company, has been named Lead Director to ensure continued sound corporate governance. Daley has been a board member since 2001 and was formerly the head of the audit committee.

John F. Murphy, 48, was appointed to the position of SVP, Chief Accounting Officer and Corporate Controller (Principal Accounting Officer) of Adobe Systems. Mark Garrett, Adobe’s CFO, will continue to serve as interim Principal Accounting Officer until the commencement of Murphy’s employment with the Company. Murphy has served as SVP and Chief Accounting Officer of Qualcomm since September 2014. He previously served as SVP, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer of DIRECTV, and VP and General Auditor of DIRECTV.

Electronic Arts’ Chief Competition Officer to Leave

Leading global interactive entertainment software company Electronic Arts announced that Peter Moore, EVP and Chief Competition Officer, will be leaving EA. His departure will be effective the end of May 2017.

Autodesk CEO to Step DownCarl Bass        

Autodesk announced that Carl Bass has decided to step down as president and CEO. The company's board has instituted a CEO search to consider candidates inside and outside the company and has formed an Interim Office of the Chief Executive to oversee the company's day-to-day operations. Bass will remain on staff as a special advisor to the company in support of the transition to a new CEO. He will continue to sit on the company's board of directors.

Former Accenture CEO Not to Stand for Reelection to First Data Board    

Joe W. Forehand will not run for reelection as a director when his term expires at First Data Board. Forehand is former Chairman of the board and former CEO of Accenture.

ServiceNow Announces New CEO   

ServiceNow has named John Donahoe President and CEO. Donahoe was formerly President and CEO of eBay. Current President, CEO and Chairman of the Board, Frank Slootman will continue as Chairman upon stepping down from his management role. Donahoe currently serves as Chairman of the Board at PayPal. He served as President and CEO of eBay from 2008 to 2015, where he oversaw the eBay, PayPal and eBay Enterprise businesses.

Citrix Systems Mobility Apps Leader Steps Down    

Citrix Systems announced the departure of Christopher S. Hylen, SVP and General Manager, Mobility Apps, in connection with the closing of the transaction with LogMeIn.

CSC and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Announce Future Board Members Post Merger         

CSC and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (HPE) named the Board of the company that will be formed by the proposed merger of CSC and the Enterprise Services Business of HPE. CSC’s Mike Lawrie would become chairman, president and CEO of the combined company and that HPE’s president and CEO Meg Whitman would join the new company’s board.

The remaining board appointments were to be split equally between nominees of HPE and existing members of CSC’s board. The new company’s board will consist of: Mukesh Aghi, President of the U.S.-India Business Council;· Amy Alving, Former CTO of SAIC; David Herzog, Former CFO of AIG and current member of boards of MetLife and AMBAC Financial Group; Sachin Lawande, CEO of Visteon Corporation; Mike Lawrie, Chairman, President and CEO of CSC; Julio Portalatin, President and CEO of Mercer; Peter Rutland, Partner and Global Co-head of Financial Services at CVC Capital Partners; Manoj Singh, Former COO for Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu; Meg Whitman, President and CEO of HPE; and Robert F. Woods, former SVP and CFO at Sungard Data Systems.

Open Text Appoints Former CEO of Schindler Group to Board       

Open Text appointed Jürgen Tinggren to its Board. Tinggren is the former CEO of Schindler Group and has over 30 years of international business experience. He is currently a non-executive member of the Board of Johnson Controls International, Sika AG and the Conference Board.

Former Cisco Marketing Exec Joins Sage Group as Non-Executive Director          

The Sage Group plc appointed Soni Jiandani to its Board as a Non-executive Director. Jiandani is the former SVP Marketing of Cisco. During her 22 years at the company she was part of a team which was responsible for a number of successes and helped establish multi-billion dollar revenue streams for the company in the Switching, Storage Networking and Server markets.

PTC Announces New COO and Departure of President of the Technology Platform Group

PTC appointed Craig Hayman to a newly created role of COO. Hayman has served as group president of the Solutions Group at PTC since late 2015. Prior to joining PTC, Hayman was president of eBay Enterprise.

Separately, PTC announced the planned departure of Rob Gremley, who has served as group president of the Technology Platform Group since 2014. He will remain in an advisory role during a transition period.

LogMeIn Announces Final Board Member Composition after Completion of Merger         

Steven G. Chambers, Gregory W. Hughes and Marilyn Matz resigned from the Board. Michael K. Simon (Chairman and Founder), William (Bill) R. Wagner (CEO), Steven J. Benson and Michael J. Christenson will continue on the board. The four individuals designed by Citrix pursuant to the Merger Agreement, Robert M. Calderoni, Jesse A. Cohn, David J. Henshall and Peter J. Sacripanti, were elected to fill vacancies on the Board. Edwin J. Gillis who has served as a member of the Board since November 2007, shall continue as on the board and was named Lead Independent Director.

New Enterprise Associates General Partner Regions from Tableau Software’s Board; Names Sales Leader

Forest Baskett, a member of the Tableau Software Board since 2004, resigned from the company's Board. Baskett has been a long-term investor in Tableau Software and is General Partner at New Enterprise Associates. Forest joined NEA in 1999 as a Venture Partner and became a General Partner in 2004.

Tableau Software also announced that it appointed industry veteran Dan Miller as EVP of Worldwide Field Sales, Services and Support. Before joining Tableau, Miller most recently led the global go-to-market strategy, sales and operations for Oracle's ISV/OEM and Java businesses. Previously, he led Juniper's Enterprise business, and spent nearly 20 years at Sun Microsystems where he held a variety of senior sales management positions.

Teradata Announces Board Appointments        

Teradata announced the election of Timothy Chou and Dan Fishback to its board. Timothy Chou began his career at one of the original Kleiner-Perkins startups, Tandem Computers. More recently he launched a new book, Precision: Principles, Practices and Solutions for the Internet of Things.

Dan Fishback is a well-regarded executive in Silicon Valley with an extensive background in guiding technology companies that specialize in applying analytics to solve complex business problems. He currently serves on the boards of several technology companies.

Tech Data Announces Executive Changes after Acquisition of Avnet’s Technology Solutions Business

Tech Data completed its acquisition of the Technology Solutions business from Avnet. The company also announced its global executive leadership, as well as several new regional and global roles. Reporting to CEO Bob Dutkowsky are: David Vetter, EVP, chief legal officer. Reporting to COO Rich Hume are: William Chu, president, Asia-Pacific; Jaideep Malhotra, president, Global Computing Components; Joe Quaglia, president, Americas; Patrick Zammit, president, Europe; Els Demeester, corporate VP, Integration; and Michael Urban, corporate VP, Strategy, Transformation and Global Vendor Management.

Ellie Mae Appoints CIO from Hitachi Data SystemsJohn Abel

Ellie Mae reported that John Abel has joined the company as SVP and CIO. Prior to joining the company, Abel was SVP of IT at Hitachi Data Systems where he helped drive the transformation from a hardware-selling company to enable growth in cloud-based software and solutions. Before Hitachi Data Systems, Abel held roles at Symantec, JDS Uniphase, KPMG Consulting and British Nuclear Fuels.

Software AG Promotes Veteran Exec as SVP in Asia Pacific & Japan           

Software AG appointed Mike Saxton to the position of SVP in Asia Pacific & Japan (APJ) to bolster the company's business. Joining Software AG in 2012, Saxton brings to his role over 26 years of experience in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry. His contribution towards Software AG has been invaluable especially in growing the company's business in Middle East and Turkey. Prior to Software AG, Saxton held key leadership roles across Europe and the United Kingdom with global technology companies, such as TIBCO, HP and Neon.

Blackbaud Promotes Todd Lant as CIO       

Blackbaud announced the promotion of VP, IT Todd Lant to CIO. This move recognizes Todds contributions to Blackbaud over the last 13 years, as a leader supporting the company through significant growth, both organically and through acquisitions. Since joining in 2003, Lant has led his team through many noteworthy accomplishments, including the development of Blackbaud's first long-term IT strategy, numerous important cybersecurity enhancements, and solution integrations for company acquisitions such as Target Analytics, Whipple Hill and MicroEdge.

SimCorp Appoints Global and Northern Europe Sales Leaders

Investment management software solutions company SimCorp has appointed Lau Harting Jeppesen as VP, Head of Global Sales, and Karel Tant as VP, Head of Sales for Northern Europe. Both positions are newly created in SimCorp and follow the recent establishment of a new organizational structure in Europe, including a new Northern Europe market unit.

Lau brings close to 20 years of sales experience, most recently serving more than 10 years as Head of Sales in the Nordic region, where he has built a strong track record in demonstrating strategic excellence and driving sales across new and existing clients.

SimCorp's new VP, Head of Sales in Northern Europe, Karel Tant, has been with SimCorp for 17 years. Starting as an implementation consultant, Karel has consistently moved through the ranks, holding both consultancy, account management and sales roles. More recently, in his position as Head of Sales in Benelux, Karel has made great advances in building strong client relationships and increasing SimCorp's local market share.

David DeWalt to Step Down from FireEye Board; CFO Changes Announced       

David DeWalt notified FireEye of his decision to resign as the Company's Executive Chairman and board member. DeWalt had served as a member of the Company's Board since May 2012, as the Company's CEO and Chairman of the Board from 2012 to 2016, and as the Company's Executive Chairman of the Board since 2016.

Michael Berry informed the Company of his decision to resign as EVP, CFO and COO of the Company, in order to pursue another opportunity. Frank Verdecanna, the Company's SVP of Finance and Chief Accounting Officer, was promoted and appointed as EVP and CFO. Verdecanna will also remain as the Company's Chief Accounting Officer.

Education Technology Company 2U Appoints Senior Leaders

2U announced the addition of Gautam Guliani as SVP, technology. Prior to 2U, Guliani served in senior technology roles at AppNexus, Prometheus Global Media, iVillage, Kaplan Inc. and TheStreet.com.

Mike Tarrant joins 2U as VP and general manager of 2U’s new partnership with the University of Dayton. Tarrant brings deep experience in the higher education industry; having served in a range of academic leadership roles at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) Kenan-Flagler Business School, UNC at Greensboro, the National University of Singapore and the UNC System.

Karlo Young joins 2U as VP and general manager of 2U’s partnership with Syracuse University. Young has held senior roles at Signal Hill Capital, KPMG, Inforistec and Deloitte & Touche.

Synchronoss Technologies Appoints CFO from Avid Technologies

Synchronoss Technologies, mobile innovation company, which provides cloud solutions and software-based activation for connected devices globally, announced that John Frederick, a technology industry veteran, will become Synchronoss's CFO. Before joining the company, Frederick was EVP, Chief Administrative and Financial Officer of Avid Technologies.

Hexaware Technologies Appoints Krishna Kumar as the CTO       

Hexaware Technologies, an India based CMMI Level 5 global IT services and consulting company, appointed Krishna Kumar as the CTO of the company. Kumar has over 25 years of experience, including about a decade each at Tata Consultancy Services and Yahoo. More recently, he has been working on big data platforms and cloud infrastructure and has an engineering degree from IIT, Madras.

Opera Software Appoints Interim CFO to Permanent CFO Role

Opera Software ASA appointed Petter Lade as CFO. Lade comes from the position as Director, IR & Corporate Development and has held several key roles within controlling, M&A and IR since joining Opera in 2006. Petter Lade has served as Interim CFO since January.

Date Range: January 30th - March 6th