BOS CEO Steps Down, Company Brings in Outsider Replacement

Published: October 2, 2006

by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Better On-line Solutions, the Israeli maker of midrange connectivity products sold in the U.S. through BOSaNOVA, said last week that its president and chief executive officer, Adiv Baruch, has turned in his resignation and will leave the company at the end of the year.

Baruch has been president and CEO since January 2004, and he was responsible for a number of acquisitions and divestures that have substantially changed what BOS does for a living. When Baruch came on board at the end of 2003, BOS had sales of $5.5 million and a net loss of $2 million. As he leaves, BOS is humming along at an annual revenue rate that is approximately $20 million (after raising $7 million in venture capital and making four acquisitions and selling off its communications unit) and is in what it calls "operational balance." That means it is poised to start making money.

"I came to the company with a three-year mission to turn the company around," Baruch explained in a statement. "Now that the company is well positioned with its new business units to move successfully ahead, I am leaving with a sense of accomplishment."

Baruch will be replaced by Shmuel Koren, who will take over the role as president and CEO in November. Koren was previously the chief financial officer at Visonic, a maker of electronic security systems based in Tel Aviv. Before that, Koren was a senior manager who specialized in Israeli initial public offerings at Oren and Horowitz, an accounting firm. Baruch will be a member of the BOS board of directors until the end of 2006. Edouard Cukierman remains chairman of the BOS board of directors.

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