Selectica shuffle continues

Selectica, Inc., a provider of sales execution and contract management solutions, shuffled around the management team a bit today. In are Bill Roeschlein as vice president / chief financial officer; Terry Nicholson as chief operating officer of contract management solutions; and Steven Goldner as vice president, engineering. From the board of directors, out are John Fisher and Thomas Neustaetter.

Selectica chairman / chief executive officer Stephen Bennion said of the three entrants: We are excited about the new energy, skill sets and industry experience being brought to the Company…” “Company” was quoted with a capital “C” and Bennion did indeed mention “skill sets.”

CPA Roeschlein comes over to Selectica from his spot as vice president of finance / corporate controller of Ultra Clean Technology, a US $250 million publicly traded contract manufacturing firm.

The previous post held by Nicholson, M.E., was vice president of business development for PC Helps, LLC, provider of software support to North American corporate end-users. From 1999 to 2005, Nicholson was COO at I-many, Inc., provider of contract management solutions. At I-many, Nicholson saw over a growth in annual revenue from US $10 million in 1999 to more than US $40 million in 2005. Sadly, however, it seems Nicholson is no relation to bad boy Jack of film fame.

Goldner, M.E., was last seen acting as vice president, of engineering and operations for Active Decisions, Inc., a provider of guided selling applications under Knova Software, Inc.

Meanwhile, tacked on to the positivity in announcing the new acquisitions, Selectica also announced that Fisher and Neustaetter had resigned from the board of directors, “effective immediately.” No statement from either was forthcoming, with the pair merely indicating that “they must end their board service in order to devote more time to the management of their respective venture capital firms.” Yes, they “must end.”

Why must they end? These recent personnel moves at Selectica all go back to August, which featured the announcement of financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2007 and its opposite and equal reaction, i.e. the taking on of Bennion as chairman.

Reflecting the term ending June 30, 2006, revenue was down US $1.9 million to US $5.2 million. Net loss for the fourth quarter was US $2.6 million, or US $0.08 per share. With the announcement came the official naming of Bennion to a higher position, he having served as Selectica chief financial officer since September 1999 and having actually sat as interim chief executive officer from September 2003 to October 2004.

In what press material called a “mutual decision,” former CEO Vince Ostrosky was called upon then to step down so as to “better [serve] by a more streamlined management structure.” With a new board figurehead installed, you’ve got to figure a few heads will roll.

Robert Jurkowski, formerly CEO at Intacct Corporation, was also named to the board at that time.

Selectica’s board of directors now has five members, three independent.

Founded in 1996, San Jose, Calif.-headquartered Selectica specializes in automating complex business processes in the areas of sales execution and contract lifecycle management in linking CRM and ERP systems. Among Selectica clientele are ABB, Alcoa, Applied Bio Systems, Bell Canada, Cisco, Dell, General Electric, Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company, Hitachi, International Paper, Juniper Networks, Rockwell Automation, Seton Hospital, Tellabs, Time Warner, Triad Hospitals and 7-Eleven.