TROY – Long-time Plex Systems CEO Mark Symonds has left the cloud-based ERP solutions company and has been replaced by Jason Blessing, a former Oracle senior vice president.
The change at the top comes as Plex continues to position itself for an Initial Public Offering, which Symonds said last year could come during 2013.
In a statement provided to MITechNews.Com, Symonds said he was actively involved in the search for his successor and helped in his transition. Although he has no specific plans yet, he is looking forward to helping another company with bright prospects realize its potential, he said.
Plex, in a statement, said Symonds left, ?on amicable terms with the sincere appreciation of the company for his excellent leadership.?
The changes come after recent investments from Francisco Partners and Accel Partners. In a press release, the company said the appointment of Blessing comes at a time when the company is entering its next growth phase, resulting from small and medium-sized manufacturers making the critical business decision to embrace cloud-based ERP systems.
Blessing joins Plex Systems from Oracle, where he was senior vice president of application development. Previously, he held a variety of executive roles at Taleo, including general manager of its small and medium-sized business unit and, most recently, executive vice president of products and technology. Taleo, a pioneer in cloud-based talent management solutions, was acquired by Oracle last year. Blessing has also held a variety of executive positions at PeopleSoft, Oracle and Price Waterhouse during his 20-year career in enterprise software. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan.
?Manufacturing ERP is, by far, the most complex enterprise software to design and build,? said Blessing. ?Plex Systems is the first company to build a cloud-based manufacturing ERP solution and has a significant lead over its competitors in this space. The company has built the most complete cloud offering for manufacturing at precisely the time when manufacturers have become comfortable moving this critical component of their business to the cloud.?
Blessing will direct the expansion of Plex Systems as the company continues to invest in its expanding sales force and its award-winning ?shop floor to top floor? technology for ERP, manufacturing execution, quality management, supply chain management and business intelligence.
?Francisco Partners acquired Plex Systems last year on the belief that there is a long-term, value creation opportunity in cloud-based ERP, and we expect a greater and greater percentage of the ERP market to move to SaaS offerings like those offered by Plex Systems,? said Petri Oksanen, a principal at Francisco Partners. ?Jason brings a tremendous breadth and depth of operational expertise that will accelerate Plex Systems? product development and business growth. His experience in scaling cloud solutions like Taleo and his years with PeopleSoft and Oracle make him the ideal leader to guide the existing management team and take Plex Systems to the next level.?
