Unisys CEO Ed Coleman Leaving Company On Heels Of Dropping Sales And Earnings
Unisys CEO Ed Coleman will be leaving as head of the solution provider, the company said Monday. The news comes on the heels of multiple quarters showing dropping revenue and earnings for the solution provider, No. 17 on CRN's SP500 list.
The changes will take effect as of Dec. 1, 2014. Coleman will remain in his positions as chairman of the board of directors and CEO until that time.
"It has been an honor and a privilege to lead Unisys the last six years. I am proud of our team's many accomplishments over that time. I look forward to Unisys building on its reputation for innovation, quality and customer satisfaction to create an ever stronger presence in the marketplace," Coleman said in a statement.
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Unisys did not comment on the direct reason for Coleman's departure, only that it was the "right time" for a change. In response to CRN's request for additional information on the departure, a Unisys spokesperson said that Coleman was not fired and it was an "amicable parting" with Coleman's "full cooperation."
"As the company focuses on its growth agenda, the board has determined it is the right time to make a leadership change. In doing so, the board offers Ed our sincere thanks for his contributions to Unisys and its many stakeholders," Paul Weaver, lead independent director of the Unisys board, said in a statement.
Over the past few quarters, Unisys has posted dropping revenue and earnings numbers. In its most recent second-quarter earnings, reported at the end of July, the solution provider posted a loss of $12.1 million, with revenues dropping 6 percent to $806 million over the year before. The quarter before, Unisys posted even greater earnings losses of $53.5 million, following up on a loss of $33.9 million in the same quarter last year. Revenues were down 6 percent year-over-year to $762 million.
Since the beginning of 2012, Unisys has only posted gains in three quarterly reports, with seven quarters showing significant losses in earnings.
Despite these factors, Weaver said in a statement that Coleman's leadership has strengthened the company's balance sheet and cash position. He said that Coleman helped lead a turnaround, including new offerings, products and services that he said will "serve as the foundation for Unisys' success in the coming years."
Coleman came to Unisys in October of 2008, replacing former CEO Joseph McGrath. At the time, the company had been seeing declining revenues, and shareholders had been pushing for a company turnaround. Coleman was praised at the time as a turnaround specialist, fresh off the heels of a Gateway Computer revamping before its sale to Acer in 2007 for $710 million.
Coleman was also well known in the channel as the former CEO and chairman of CompuCom, a position he held for five years, as well as the senior vice president and president of Arrow Electronics' Enterprise Computing Solutions division. Near the beginning of his career, he spent 17 years at IBM.
Unisys said that it will immediately begin looking for a replacement for Coleman, with the board of directors engaging executive search firm Russell Reynolds, though it did not say if there were any particular targets at this time.
"We are looking for a leader who will execute on the company's growth agenda," a Unisys spokesperson told CRN.
Unisys said that it could not say what Coleman's next move would be, but that he will remain focused on leading the company for the remainder of his term there.
PUBLISHED OCT. 6, 2014