SoftwareOne has named Raphael Erb as its sole CEO as it ditches the quirky co leadership model it introduced to smooth its integration of Crayon.
Erb and his former Crayon opposite number Melissa Mulholland have been joint CEOs of the enlarged Microsoft partner since their mega union closed last July.
Now Mulholland has “decided to leave” the 12,000-employee business, with Erb becoming sole CEO as of 1 August.
The Co-CEO model, popular with one or two vendor giants include Oracle, was “designed to ensure continuity through the integration of SoftwareOne and Crayon”.
With that integration now “substantially complete”, SoftwareOne concluded the next phase of its development is “best supported by a sole CEO leadership structure”.
SoftwareOne last month struck a bullish tone as it unveiled plans to boost its EBITDA margins to a sky-high 28% by 2030.
The “further good progress and strong business momentum” SoftwareOne has enjoyed even since then gave it further Dutch courage to go ahead with this morning’s leadership announcement, it indicated.
Swiss SoftwareOne completed its acquisition of Nordic peer Crayon last July in a union onlookers say was hastened by Microsoft’s recent incentive changes for its largest licensing partners.
“The Co-CEO model was designed to ensure continuity through the integration of SoftwareOne and Crayon,” stated Till Spillmann, Chairman of the Board of Directors.
“With that mandate nearing completion, a sole CEO structure is the right next step to sustain focus and accelerate execution. Raphael Erb, with his deep understanding of our customers, core operations and commercial business, is ideally positioned to lead SoftwareOne in this next chapter.”
“Excited about what comes next”
Without revealing her next move, Mulholland said in a LinkedIn post (see below) that she is “excited about what comes next”.
“The time is now right to transition to a sole CEO structure,” Mulholland stated.
“I am confident that the company is very well positioned for its next chapter and wish Raphael and the entire SoftwareOne team continued success.”
“The past year has demonstrated the strength of our combined business, and now it’s about building on that momentum,” Erb added.
