Baan's top management shuffle

The Dutch software firm with U.S. headquarters in Reston, Virginia, today announced it is calling a special meeting of its stockholders in early 1999 to nominate five new members of the management board.

The special meeting was called to fill the vacancy left by Jan Baan. Baan, who founded the company, announced yesterday that he was removing himself completely from the firm he founded with his brother Paul Baan. Jan Baan stepped down earlier this year as chief executive and chairman and decided this week to no longer sit on the executive or management boards.

Under Dutch business practices, the management board is typically comprised of top management of the company. The nominees for the vacancies are Mary Coleman, the newly appointed president of the company; Klaas Wagenaar, the chief financial officer; Bob Lewis, executive vice president and president of global field sales; Kevin Calderwood, president of strategic global accounts; and Laurens van der Tang, executive vice president of research and development.

Baan's current management board members include Tom Tinsley, who took over from Jan Baan as chief executive and chairman of the firm, and Amal Johnson, who heads up Baan's affiliates and is president of Caps Logistics, which Baan recently bought.

No date has been set yet for the meeting. The management shifts are in response to Baan's recent financial troubles as it struggles to maintain its market share in an increasingly competitive niche. All of the major vendors have announced slower growth than in years past, but Baan is the only one to post a loss.