The Cole Digest, March 13, 1996

The board of directors of System Integrators Inc. announced last Thursday that Chief Executive William Aaronson is no longer with the company.

The board has appointed Erika Williams, the Sacramento-based company's chief operating officer, as interim chief executive.

Aaronson, a 14-year veteran of the company, was appointed chief executive almost two years ago. Previously, he had been a sales and marketing executive with SII.

Williams joined the firm last summer; she had been an executive with Amdahl Corp. of Sunnyvale, Calif. During her last two years with Amdahl, Williams was senior vice president and general manager of Amdahl's Enterprise Storage Systems division.

Neil Diver, the chairman of SII's board, said in a prepared statement, "The transition should be seamless, since under the previous organizational structure, virtually 90 percent of the management reports to Erika. She has meshed ably with the new SII and achieved considerable respect from those inside and outside the company, and her new role will only serve to expand her sphere of influence."

Diver's statement also said, "Bill Aaronson has spent 14 years with SII, and we wish him well in his future endeavors."

SII executives refused further comment.

The change of top management at the long-time supplier of editorial and classified systems to the publishing industry follows a lay-off 13 employees in early February and a reorganization. SII now employs about 220 workers worldwide.

The company's Publishing Products Division -- which includes research and development as well as marketing for the System 66 product line -- has been combined with customer support. It will be run by Vice President Robert Strack, who had been in charge of the company's customer support department -- and in the late '80s was in charge of research and development.

John Cook, who had been general manager of the publishing products group, remains with SII. In a press release, SII said Cook would "take a lead role in one of the company's major development projects."

Sources close to the company said Cook would be project manager for the installation of a 650-terminal classified system at the German newspaper publisher Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ).

The company's MediaBridge division is now one of the responsibilities of Allan Katzen, who will continue to run SII's Professional Services Division. The former general manager of MediaBridge, Steve Nilan, will return to his role as vice president of business development.

MediaBridge has developed methods of taking data out of an SII front-end and publishing it in new media environments; the Professional Services Division provides custom programming.

Onward.

\dmc

[THE COLE DIGEST is written by consultant David M. Cole, editor and publisher of the industry newsletter THE COLE PAPERS. The DIGEST is made available to PressLink subscribers every Wednesday at no extra charge. Send comments by e-mail to cole@plink.geis.com. The COLE DIGEST is the property of The Cole Group, a California sole proprietorship. Reproduction in whole or in part without the written permission of The Cole Group is prohibited. Copyright (C) 1996, The Cole Group. Opinions expressed are those of The Cole Group, unless otherwise noted.

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