One of market leaders of PLM will replace the CEO

The PTC company extended news that its president Jim Heppelmann will be appointed the CEO of the company in October, 2010. He will hold the chair of Richard Harrison managing PLM provider over the last ten years. Harrison, in turn, will become the executive chairman (executive chairman) of the company.

"To tell the truth, I do not think that clients will notice an essential difference, moreover, I think that they also do not need changes", - Heppelman commented on news. "The truth is that Dick delivered me long ago at a wheel of strategic planning therefore no abrupt turns will exist", - he added.

Such succession makes sense "only for me", Harrison who works in PTC already 23 years commented, and since 2000 was the CEO of the company. "I so all this time was behind the scenes", - he added. When Harrison only got up at a wheel PTC, the company positioned the solution as "the solution for joint work" (collaborative product commerce). Then it was transformed to the system of the class PLM.

In two years before Harrison headed the company, in 1998, PTC made the decision on diversification of business due to strengthening of the CAD direction. Then it also absorbed Windchill company which founder once was Heppelman. Since then he played a role of the first violin in the largest business of PTC that put it on one step with other top managers. He was appointed the president and the operating officer in March, 2009, and the previous year – became the member of council the director of the company.

By estimation this financial year revenue from the business which got from Windchill will make up to 50% of turnover of all company. "I think that it is an explicit indicator of changes in the company, and these changes happened in that direction where all my force is concluded", - Heppelman comments. Meanwhile, Harrison this year will be 55 years old, and he claims that he is happy to depart from affairs and that firm schedule in which he lived a half of life. Concerning Heppelman he told: "It ripened, and I am ready to support, in turn, in every possible way him". In a new position of the ex-CEO will work only one week a month, being engaged in affairs of the biggest customers.

"Perhaps, you should not cover this castling in the press so actively. Our business is so strong now that we do not need innovations, we need succession and new energy", - Heppelman said. By estimates of the company, sales of PLM advance growth in sales of other corporate applications, increasing by 25% annually. A basis of aggressive strategy of the company – replacement of PLM systems existing at clients by the solutions PTC. Moreover, at the moment PLM business, got from Windchill, eclipses the CAD direction, more traditional for PTC. According to Heppelman, his task will be including in reanimating him and to increase sales in this segment.

In PTC company about five thousand people worldwide work today, the profit of the company is about $1 billion a year. Enters into top three of the market of the PLM solutions along with Dassault Systemes and Siemens PLM.