Barneveld, The Netherlands - July 24, 2003 - Mr. Van der Tang has been with Baan for 17 years. During the nineties, he successfully led Baan's product development efforts, which positioned Baan as the undisputed technology leader in the industry. Invensys appointed him as president in 2000 following the acquisition of Baan.
Under his leadership, Baan was transformed from a product-driven company into a customer-driven company achieving record levels of customer satisfaction. After his appointment, van der Tang turned the business around in a short period of time and re-positioned the company for growth with the launch of iBaan in Spring 2001, and the development of Baan's next generation product codenamed "Gemini".
Over the past two years, he initiated many of Baan strategic initiatives, such as the establishment of global sales and marketing organizations, development of the solution services business, expansion of the reseller channel, and the implementation of strategic account management. Recognizing early on that industry consolidation was inevitable and critical mass would become a pre-requisite for sustainable success, he initiated the process to find a strategic partner for Baan, which resulted in the merger with SSA announced on June 3.
Van der Tang will leave the company on August 1 2003.
Commenting on his departure, Laurens van der Tang said: "This is a good time for me to make a change. I look back to a fantastic time with Baan, and I'm grateful that I could contribute to this great company. At the same time, after five intense and eventful years, I look forward to now being able to take some time off and be able to spend more time with my family."
Added Bill Ford, partner, General Atlantic Partners: "We regret Laurens' decision. Over the years, he has made a tremendous contribution to Baan, but we have to respect his personal decision to make a change."
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About Baan:
For more than 25 years, industrial enterprises with complex make, move and service requirements have relied on Baan to help them improve their business performance. Baan is focused on delivering industry-defining enterprise application solutions and services to discrete manufacturers in the industrial machinery and equipment, electronics, automotive, and aerospace and defense sectors. With its unrivalled domain expertise in targeted vertical industries, Baan makes it possible for customers to achieve lowest total cost of ownership and fastest time-to-value from their enterprise solutions. Baan has 6,500 customers worldwide and installations at more than 15,000 customer sites and is part of SSA Global Technologies, Inc.
For more information, please visit www.baan.com.
Contact Baan PR:
Carolijn Peelen
Tel: 0342 477525
E-mail: cpeelen@baan.com