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CA Global
Sales Chief Becomes
The Latest Executive to Depart
Company Has No Plans
To Fill Corgan's Position;
Commissions Issue Simmers
By WILLIAM M. BULKELEY
June 6, 2006; Page B11
CA Inc.'s world-wide sales chief is leaving in
the wake of a costly sales-commission debacle, continuing an
executive-suite exodus.
The software maker said Gregory Corgan, 52 years old,
was leaving the post, which he has held since 2004. CA, based in
Islandia, N.Y., and formerly known as Computer Associates International,
said it won't fill the job. Instead, five lower-level sales executives
will report directly to recently promoted Chief Operating Officer
Michael Christenson. CA stock, which has been falling steadily in recent
months, was down eight cents to $21.55 in 4 p.m. New York Stock Exchange
composite trading yesterday.
In April CA shocked investors by disclosing that it
expected earnings for its fourth quarter ended March 31 to fall below
expectations, partly because of larger-than-expected sales commissions.
Since then, it has said that it would delay reporting its results for
fiscal 2006, ended March 31, because it needs more time to complete
calculations of sales commissions and taxes. It also said that sales
commissions weren't properly aligned with company growth. Last month
Chief Financial Officer Robert Davis left the company by mutual consent.
People familiar with the situation said Mr. Davis's departure was
connected to the sales-commission issue and inaccurate forecasting of
results from companies that CA acquired last year. Messrs. Corgan and
Davis couldn't be reached for comment. CA didn't say what Mr. Corgan's
plans were or give a reason for his departure.
Mr. Corgan's departure increases management turnover at
CA, which has been trying to rebound from an accounting scandal in which
contracts were backdated to inflate earnings in already-completed
quarters. The scandal resulted in resignations and guilty pleas by a
number of officers, including former Chief Executive Sanjay Kumar.
John Swainson, a former top software executive of
International Business Machines Corp., was named chief executive in late
2004 and has been trying to rebuild CA's software-development operations
and investor confidence. CA's chief operating officer, Jeff Clarke, and
chief technology officer, Mark Barrenechea, both left the company in
recent months to take what they described as jobs they wanted at other
companies.
Mr. Corgan, a onetime IBM executive, had joined CA in
2003 after brief stints at two small companies.
Write to William M. Bulkeley at
bill.bulkeley@wsj.com1
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