In another surprise change at the top of a global ERP vendor, Charles Phillips announced last month that he was stepping down with immediate effect and handing over the reins to Kevin Samuelson.
Samuelson, who previously held the position of CFO, is one of the longest tenured executives at Infor, having spent 14 years between M&A and CFO roles. Samuelson was instrumental in driving strategic acquisitions for Infor, helping to grow the company from $35m in annual revenue, to $3 billion, as well as securing long term investment partners, Koch and Golden Gate.
Samuelson said: “I feel very fortunate to work with such a great team at Infor. Charles’ guidance and leadership helped shape this company into a market leading provider of multitenant, cloud-based ERP applications. Our vision is to build on Infor’s impressive trajectory, continually evolve our range of SaaS products that allow for quick and material ROI and value add for our customers and provide first-class service at every step of the journey.”
Phillips’s tenure as CEO has seen significant growth and expansion at Infor with more than $2.5bn invested in product design and development in the past five years. In his new role as chairman of the board, Phillips will focus on strategy development, customer relationships, and new acquisitions.
Phillips said: “I’m extremely proud of the team’s accomplishments during my tenure. It is the right time to evolve our executive leadership as we continue to drive innovation in the industry. Kevin is a talented leader and I look forward to working with him and our experienced team as chairman. I am confident Kevin and his leadership team will take Infor to the next level of growth, successfully implement our business strategy, and take advantage of the market opportunities ahead. Infor has great people and is poised for growth in its unique mission as the first industry cloud company.”
In connection with the announcement, Infor has made several additional senior leadership changes, the most notable for the UK is a new role for Cormac Watters who transitions from executive vice president for EMEA to general manager of international markets.
