In this Issue: Reverse Osmosis
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Departures of several key executives this year at business intelligence giant SAS Institute Inc. sparked active speculation about instability at one of the world's largest privately held software companies.
As SAS began to prepare for its IPO, longtime rein-holder and cofounder Jim Goodnight relinquished the CEO spot in early 2000 to outsider Andre Boisvert, previously at Oracle Corp. A year later Boisvert left, at which time company spokespeople said the IPO lay at least another year and a half in the future, estimating a date of mid-2002 or later.
Several other executive departures concurrent with Boisvert's alerted close followers of SAS that change was in the air. Marianna Suciu, president of the Americas division, left January 30 for Onyx Software Corp. - after Stephen Wiehe, senior director of strategic investments and mergers and acquisitions. Wiehe is now CEO of SciQuest.com, an e-commerce company for the scientific products market.
In all of its 25-year history, SAS has had an exceptionally high employee retention rate. Known for its pampering atmosphere, SAS recently began, under Boisvert's leadership, the organizational revamping necessary to prepare for an IPO. Observers have speculated that Boisvert's aggressive style clashed with Goodnight's personality, but both Boisvert and SAS representatives refuse to comment except to say that the two men are on good terms with each other.
The inhospitable stock market prompted Jim Davis, executive vice president of worldwide marketing at SAS, to say he was "ecstatic" the IPO hadn't yet occurred. Speaking by phone from a spring 2001 financial conference when the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell below 10,000 for the first time in a year, Davis said he was surrounded by attendees from public companies who were being unfairly pounded by shareholders. Because highly profitable SAS has no need for a cash infusion (it achieved double-digit growth again in 2000), its only motivation to go public, besides gaining a higher public profile, is to reward employees. Going public in the current environment wouldn't be a favor to them.
Davis denied that the recent spate of executive resignations was a symptom of general unhappiness or instability, stating that each decision was made for independent reasons and that the attrition rate was still below 5 percent. Earlier, however, the Raleigh News & Observer, the local paper to SAS's Cary, N.C. headquarters, reported an increase in circulation of SAS executive resumes at one local technical recruiting office.
Goodnight assumed the vacated roles of CEO and Americas president. Davis said this had an unexpected benefit to the company, which is trying to achieve a unified identity worldwide. "Jim has been, historically, technology-focused. For him to sit in the president of the Americas chair ... he, in my opinion, has a completely different view and perspective of the company he built that he has never had before. He's seeing it from the eyes of the people who have to sell his technology. And I think that's an extremely healthy thing for SAS," Davis said.
SAS has also been engaged in a worldwide brand-building campaign, complete with television ads in the San Francisco, New York, and Raleigh, N.C. markets. Print, outdoor, and television ads now have the same look and feel in all markets worldwide. SAS's branding goal is to increase awareness of its leadership position in decision support and its planned expansion into e-business markets.
Jeanette Burriesci
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