Canadian desktop applications vendor Corel has a new man at the top. Former IBM executive David Dobson is the company's new chief executive officer (CEO), Corel announced Tuesday.
Dobson replaces previous CEO Amish Mehta who's been named chairman of Corel, according to a release from the company. Mehta became interim CEO back in August 2003 when Corel was acquired by Vector Capital for US$124 million. The then-CEO Derek Burney became company chairman.
Since its acquisition by Vector Capital and return to being a private company, Corel has seen its financial health improve somewhat, logging six consecutive profitable quarters, as well as acquiring Jasc Software in 2004. Prior to that time, Corel had a string of losses, staff cuts and risked being delisted from the Nasdaq stock exchange when its share price fell below a dollar.
New Corel CEO Dobson worked at IBM for nearly 20 years in a variety of positions including finance and sales and marketing. He was most recently corporate vice president in charge of strategy at Big Blue where he led efforts to locate and develop new businesses for the company.
With Dobson on board, Corel is looking at making further purchases, releasing new software and expanding its worldwide operations, according to the release.