IBS Hires Former Intentia Executive as Permanent CEO

January 18, 2011 Alex Woodie

The board of directors of IBM i ERP developer International Business Systems (IBS) has elected former Intentia executive Johan Berg to be the company’s new CEO. The December announcement culminated a seven-month period when the company operated without a permanent chief executive, and hopefully begins a new period of stability for the respected Swedish software company.

Berg has his work cut for him as IBS’ new CEO. He will be asked to fill the shoes that have been temporarily occupied over the last seven months by Christian Paulsson, the executive vice president of corporate development and M&A, who had been filling in as temporary CEO since former CEO Mike Shinya was ousted in May 2010. Paulsson is now back at his previous job at IBS.

Paulsson feels confident they have found the right man. “Mr. Berg brings strong ERP experience to IBS, which he acquired during a 12-year career at Intentia International AB where he held several executive positions,” Paulsson says in a statement. “We are very fortunate to find such a strong candidate with deep industry knowledge of the ERP software space, which will gain the company going forward.”

Berg held two senior positions at Intentia, which was acquired by Minnesota ERP developer Lawson Software in 2005, including executive vice president of Intentia International AB and CEO of Intentia R&D AB. Berg was also the CEO at OP 5 AB and Boss Media AB.

Berg was elected CEO of IBS by a three-person board of directors that consisted of Paulsson and two others. The board had five members before IBS chairman Pallab Chatterjee and one other board member abruptly resigned in October.

IBS has experienced quite a bit of upper-level turnover the last few years. Of the eight people listed as the management team on the company’s website, four were hired by the company in 2010, one was hired in 2009, and two were hired in 2008. Paulsson, who turns 36 this year, is the only member of IBS management who was with the company before 2008, which marked the beginning of Shinya’s short reign. The board doesn’t have much more experience: IBS chairman Vinit Bodas took his position in 2007, and Ulf Eriksson took his position in 2010.

Berg starts his new job February 1. IBS will report 2010 results sometime during the month.