Creative Labs Inc., the booming vendor of...

Creative Labs Inc., the booming vendor of Sound Blaster personal computer accessories, has named former Ashton-Tate Chief Executive Edward M. Esber Jr. as president and chief operating officer.

Esber, 41, oversaw the explosive 1980s growth of Ashton-Tate, a vendor of personal computer database software, but many also consider him responsible for the company’s rapid decline after the release of a bug-ridden version of its flagship dBase product.

Ashton-Tate, once based in Torrance, was acquired by Borland International in 1990 and quickly folded into Borland’s operations.

At Creative Labs, Esber will report directly to K.S. Chay, president of Creative Technology Ltd., Creative Labs’ Singapore-based parent company.

Esber was most recently president of the Esber Group, a consulting company.