Selectica Chairman, CEO Mittal quits

By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 09 September 2003, 19:30 IST
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Selectica, Inc. (Nasdaq:SLTC) Tuesday announced that Chairman and CEO Dr. Sanjay Mittal, is stepping down "for personal reasons".

SAN JOSE: Dr. Mittal will serve as a consultant to the Company in the role of Chief Technical Advisor and retain his board membership. Stephen Bennion, the Company's chief financial officer, will also serve as interim chief executive officer during the search for a new CEO. The executive search firm of Russell Reynolds Associates has been retained to identify potential CEO candidates for Selectica. "Selectica has established itself as the premier provider of configuration, pricing and quoting solutions, and we are highly focused on driving our solutions deeper into the enterprise market," said Bennion. "As such, the Company intends to fill the position of CEO with an executive that possesses the proven ability to drive effective sales and marketing efforts that can take Selectica to the next level. We have already made significant strides in rebuilding our sales force and placing more emphasis on sales and marketing efforts at all levels of the organization. We view the addition of a new CEO as an opportunity to significantly strengthen our management team and bring a level of sales and marketing expertise to the CEO position. With our superior technology, impressive client roster, and strong financial position, we believe the CEO position will be very attractive to a wide range of talented executives and we look forward to completing the search in a timely manner. "We thank Dr. Mittal for his invaluable contributions in founding the company, inventing its core technology, and guiding it over these years to its pre-eminent position in configuration, pricing and quoting. We are happy that he will continue to make some of his time available to assist the Company," said Bennion. Selectica continues to expect a second-quarter loss between 8 cents and 11 cents a share. The company originally issued the guidance during a July 31, conference call. In last year's second quarter, the company lost 9 cents a share, excluding deferred compensation and restructuring charges. The provider of pricing and quoting programs still anticipates second-quarter revenue between $9.5 million and $10.5 million, up from $9.4 million a year ago. If the company doesn't close an unspecified health insurance deal as planned, revenue will fall about 10% below the anticipated range, it said. The implied guidance ranges between $8.6 million and $9.5 million.