Computerbase Founder Has Quit as Firm’s President

The founder and president of Computerbase International Inc. has resigned his executive post at the small Irvine technology company.

Richard Manweller resigned as president and a director of the firm last March, according to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He remains with the company as a consultant and major shareholder. Murrell F. Jessen, who joined Computerbase in January as head of its marketing division, replaced Manweller as president and chief executive officer.

Neither Jessen nor Manweller was unavailable for comment Thursday.

Manweller’s resignation came after Computerbase lost its biggest contract, a $5-million pact to develop prototype computers for Flashpoint Computer Corp., a McLean, Va., company. The company reported revenues of only $1.5 million for the nine-month period ended Jan. 31.

A Computerbase official who asked that his name not be used said Thursday that Manweller’s resignation was unrelated to the loss of the Flashpoint contract. “That contract was lost several months before Manweller left,” he said.

Last June, Computerbase named Paul Thayer, a former deputy secretary of defense, chairman of the company. At the time Manweller, said Thayer’s defense background would help the firm recruit new business and grow to $200 million in sales within five years. Thayer is also a director and a major shareholder in the company.

The Computerbase official said the company announced Manweller’s resignation last March in a letter to shareholders and to some investment firms. But the resignation went virtually unnoticed in the media because Computerbase evidently did not issue a press release to news organizations.

Computerbase lost $277,000 for the quarter ended Jan. 31, an improvement over its $469,586 loss for the corresponding period a year earlier. Revenues rose 43% to $492,967.