CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
June 26, 2008
Company News
Arena Solutions Adds New Strength to Its Management Team
Arena Solutions, the leading provider of on-demand product lifecycle management (PLM) software for manufacturers of all sizes, today announced a series of new management appointments aimed at supporting the company’s commitment to exceed customer expectations and maintain its strong trajectory of growth and innovation. Reflective of Arena’s efforts to maintain a dynamic and knowledgeable management team that deeply understands the unique value PLM software can provide in helping solve mid-sized manufacturers’ key challenges, the company promoted two highly respected employees, Arun Gopalakrishnan to vice president of engineering and Marc Escobosa to vice president of product design. In addition, Arena drew upon world-class talent from outside the company to find and appoint Doug Bell as vice president of marketing. These well-regarded executives all have proven track records of thinking strategically and making a strong impact in their respective areas of expertise. Each of them will play a critical role in successfully leading Arena Solutions into the future.
“We are delighted to have three strong and talented executives join the company’s leadership team to help in taking Arena into the next phase of its development,” said Craig Livingston, chief executive officer of Arena Solutions. “Arun and Marc have certainly earned their promotions, having garnered respect for the significant contributions they’ve made to the company thus far, developing an application that, through its virtues, tends to sell itself. Doug comes to Arena with great accolades for his customer-focused approach and the marketing leadership he’s provided in his past positions, having effectively bridged the gap between market comprehension and day-to-day execution of the strategies and tactics necessary to drive revenue for the software industry. We look forward to the programs he will establish that will increase awareness of Arena PLM and fill our pipeline with new companies that haven’t already been introduced to Arena by our influential customers.”
As vice president of marketing, Bell is responsible for all of Arena’s corporate, field and product marketing, and will lead business development efforts. Before joining Arena, Bell was a vice president of marketing at Selectica, a leader in on-demand lifecycle management solutions for contract management and sales configuration. In his work at Selectica, he focused squarely on customers and designed programs that led to revenue growth of 450 percent in a single year. Focus on customers, building pipeline and growing revenue have also been hallmarks of his work in previous marketing leadership positions at Ariba and I-many, where Bell developed expertise in the supply chain management, sourcing and procurement fields. Deep experience in finance at operational powerhouses like Cisco, Coca-Cola Enterprises and GE Capital complements Bell’s marketing experience and forms the foundation of his results-driven approach. Bell holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Drexel University.
As the vice president of engineering, Gopalakrishnan oversees all facets of software development at Arena, including quality assurance, testing and release. Gopalakrishnan combines deep technical expertise with extensive management experience. Before joining Arena in 2003, much of Gopalakrishnan’s work was focused on developing software for engineers. As the senior engineering manager at Cadence Design Systems, a leading electronic design automation (EDA) technologies and engineering services company, he led a team to develop a new-generation, web-based printed circuit board (PCB) design environment. At OrCAD, where he worked before OrCAD was acquired by Cadence, Gopalakrishnan led the development of Activeparts.com, an online electrical parts library, and the widely used Component Information System (CIS) for OrCAD Capture. Gopalakrishnan holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Calicut, India.
As vice president of product design, Escobosa is responsible for guiding the product roadmap and designing the interaction model and user interface for all Arena products. Escobosa’s commitment to building intuitive, easy-to-learn and easy-to-use interfaces stems from many years of experience in user-centered design and application interface design. He has worked with Arena since the company’s beginning, designing the original Arena PLM interface as principal of the company’s design partner, Zaudhaus, before joining Arena in 2004. Escobosa was a co-founder of Zaudhaus, which is a full-service design studio specializing in brand, experience and interface design. Before that he was the senior product designer at NetObjects, where he designed the interface for the first four major versions of Fusion, a groundbreaking visual website editor. He’s been recognized for superior interaction design twice (once for Fusion and once for Arena PLM) by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) through that organization’s IDEA (International Design Excellence Awards) program, the premier international competition honoring design excellence. Escobosa graduated Magna Cum Laude from Dartmouth College with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
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