IBM Veteran Hired to Turn Around Platinum : Computers: David R. Proctor becomes president and chief operating officer of troubled software firm.
David R. Proctor, a 23-year IBM veteran, has been hired as president and chief operating officer of troubled accounting software firm Platinum Software Corp.
Proctor, 54, faces the challenge of turning around Irvine-based Platinum in the wake of an accounting scandal that forced its four top executives to resign on April 18. He will report to Carmelo J. Santoro, a board member who became chief executive after founder Gerald Blackie quit last month.
Proctor has experience both as the head of a large software enterprise and as a turnaround specialist. He served as vice president of IBM’s personal software products division, which creates IBM’s personal computer software line, including its flagship OS/2 operating system.
He left IBM in 1990 to become chief operating officer of Torrance-based Ashton-Tate Corp., a money-losing database software publisher. Partly through his efforts, the company returned to profitability and was bought in October, 1991, by rival Borland International Corp. of Scotts Valley, Calif.
Since then, Proctor has served as a consultant to Candle Corp., a Santa Monica-based maker of software that evaluates computer performance; and filled a couple of short-term positions at Xerox Corp.’s computer and software-related divisions. He rejoined IBM last year to develop IBM’s key operating system, which controls the basic functions of a personal computer.
Proctor said he was looking for another challenge when Santoro asked for his help. The two men struck a deal within four weeks.
“To say I’m pleased is the understatement of the millennium,” Proctor said Monday.
Proctor, designated by Santoro to handle Platinum’s day-to-day operations, will have his hands full. Among his challenges will be to restore investor and customer confidence in a company that acknowledged it misreported its revenue by $18 million; to maintain employee morale in the wake of a $15 million restructuring that could lead to layoffs of a third of the company’s 820 employees; and to return the company to profitability.
The company also faces an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“Most software companies stub their toes at some point,” he said. “I believe that they can recover if they act fast, keep their focus and reassure customers by giving them an honest appraisal of how things are at the company. This job is a hot seat, and that’s what makes it fun.”
In the past month, Santoro has completely remade Platinum. Two weeks ago the company hired Michael Simmons, another former Santoro associate, as chief financial officer.
Last week, Santoro announced a restructuring in which the company will focus on its core accounting software products. It will sell off most of its international sales divisions and operate three “profit centers,” or units with their own profit and loss responsibility, where before there was none.
“I would say we’re done with the planning and setup phase,” Santoro said. “Now the difficult job begins.”
Steve DeLuca, an analyst at investment bank Cruttenden & Co. in Irvine, said Monday, “It’s nice to see them fill the management holes quickly. . . . Now they have to execute.”
Platinum’s stock, at $10 a share when it disclosed the inflation of its sales figures, rose $0.50 to $5.875 Monday on Nasdaq.
Profile:
David R. Proctor
Title: President and chief operating officer, Platinum Software Corp.
Credentials: Master of science in math from Stanford University
Age: 54
Hometown: Austin, Tex.
Background: Started at IBM Corp. in 1967, helping NASA’s mission control staff with computer system; rose through the ranks in various management positions in IBM’s federal systems and commercial software divisions, including the company’s software division in Japan; joined Ashton-Tate Corp. in 1990 as chief operating officer until October, 1991; consulted for Candle Corp. in Santa Monica and worked as turnaround executive at Xerox’s Ventura Software unit and at Xerox Computer Systems; in 1993, rejoined IBM’s personal software products division as vice president in charge of OS/2 development
Sources: David R. Proctor; Platinum Software Corp.
