Santa Ana-based MSC.Software Corp., a maker of simulation software for manufacturers, aerospace and defense contractors, landed a temporary chief executive officer after a sudden shakeup in its executive ranks.
The company’s board of directors named Ashfaq A. Munshi as interim leader after chief executive and chairman Bill Weyand and chief operating officer Glenn Weinkoop both stepped down.
The company didn’t say why the two resigned.
MSC.Software said it hired a search firm to find a permanent chief executive.
Munshi has held executive roles at Redwood City-based Oracle Corp., Sunnyvale’s Silicon Graphics Inc. and Santa Clara’s Applied Materials Inc.
He’s been a director on MSC’s board since 2006.
In the same announcement, the company said it named current board members Donald Glickman and Robert A. Schriesheim as non-executive co-chairmen.
MSC said it separated the roles of chief executive and chairman to “further move its governance structure toward current best practices.”
The executive moves are MSC’s second shakeup in the past five years.
In 2005, Weyand replaced Frank Perna as chief executive and Sam Aureimma replaced John Laskey as chief financial officer.
Laskey was hired in 2004 to replace Louis Greco, who stepped down amid a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into delayed and restated financial results dating back to 2001.
MSC was kicked off of the New York Stock Exchange and traded on the Pink Sheets for a while.
Weyand oversaw some major changes, including big job cuts and sales of some of MSC’s unprofitable businesses.
It’s been tough going for MSC for the past year or so.
Shares are off about 60% in the past 12 months.
In May, a large hedge fund shareholder recommended that the company “explore strategic alternatives” including a possible sale.
The company recorded 2008 sales of $254 million, up slightly from 2007.
It narrowed its loss to $6 million, less than the $10 million it lost in 2007.
MSC’s shares were down 2% in midday New York trading on a recent market value of $220 million.
MSC’s software enables manufacturers to simulate different stress, vibration and heat conditions to predict how designs of products will behave in the real world.
The software avoids having to build and test expensive prototypes.
Customers include Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp., Lockheed Martin Corp., Boeing Co., United Technologies Corp. and Caterpillar Inc.
