John Bates has been appointed chief technology officer (CTO) and head of corporate development at Progress Software. The enterprise software vendor recently announced it was restructuring its sales, development and marketing organisations.
In his new role, Bates is now responsible for four key areas:
- Business strategy
- Acquisitions
- Communicating business strategy to customers, partners and other constituencies
- Supporting cross-product synergies
Bates had previously been general manager of the Apama Division at Progress Software. Bates was the co-founder, president and CTO of Apama, which was acquired by Progress Software in April 2005.
Massachusetts-based Progress Software has previoulsy announced a cut to its global workforce by between 12% and 14% in a bid to cut costs.
The firm, which counts numerous financial services firms among its customers and sells the Apama algorithmic trading technology, currently employs over 1800 people, according to its Web site, meaning over 250 jobs could go.
Progress says it is restructuring its sales, development and marketing organisations "to better optimise operations and to improve productivity and efficiency". Cuts will be across all functions and geographies and some offices will be "consolidated".