Irvine’s Epicor Software Corp., a maker of business software, on Tuesday named a new chief executive, replacing longtime chief George Klaus.
Thomas Kelly, 55, is set to be Epicor’s president and chief executive.
Klaus will remain chairman and will oversee the transition. The company said the shift is a part of a “carefully architected succession plan.”
Epicor also announced that Mark Duffell, its president and chief operating officer, is leaving the company at the end of March to “pursue other opportunities.”
Duffell was promoted from vice president to president and chief operating officer in 2005. He’s been with the company since 1996.
Klaus has served as chairman, chief executive and president of Epicor since 1996.
Under his watch, the company has grown from about $30 million in yearly sales to nearly $400 million in sales last year.
Epicor, which targets mid-sized retailers, manufacturers, distributors and hotels as customers, had a recent market value of about $698 million.
Kelly, who has logged more than 25 years in the software industry, joined Epicor’s board back in 2000.
Since 2005 Kelly has served as chairman and chief executive of Santa Clara’s MontaVista Software Inc., a maker of software that runs on Linux operating systems.
He served as an adviser at Trident Capital and Morgan Stanley Ventures before taking on the chief executive post at MontaVista software.
Kelly has previously served as chief executive at Trident Capital’s Transware Limited and San Jose’s Blaze Software Inc. He led Blaze through an initial public offering and subsequent acquisition by Germany’s Brokat International AG.
Kelly also had a stint as chief operating officer at Austin, Texas-based Cirrus Logic Inc., a publicly traded chipmaker.
