Wednesday, July 11, 2007

No Grand Conspiracies in SolidWorks CEO Transition

There are no grand conspiracies in today’s news that Jeff Ray will replace John McEleney as CEO of the SolidWorks division of Dassault Systemes. McEleney is stepping down for personal reasons that are true to the rhythms of life, reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with his work. We know those reasons, we will not share those reasons in public, and we wish John the very best.

Having said that, the timing is interesting. Just as Dassault is looking to the SolidWorks dealer channel to do some heavy lifting for the rest of the company, along comes the guy who has done much of the work of building it to lead all of SolidWorks. As Chief Operating Officer, Jeff Ray has been responsible for the development of sales, marketing, and distribution. The fierce loyalty of the SolidWorks VAR channel is the stuff of legend. These guys would walk through fire carrying buckets of dung if Jeff Ray suggested it.

More tomorrow at CADCAMNet.

Jeff Ray, incoming SolidWorks CEO.
It seems some Texas Aggies wash up real good.

 

John McEleney, outgoing SolidWorks CEO.
Perhaps now there will be time for a friendly card game.

 

Posted by Randall at 08:00:29 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |