Senior Executive from salesforce.com and Accenture Succeeds Scott W. Klein; Klein Joins IRI Parent Symphony Technology Group as Operating Partner CHICAGO, Sept. 27, 2007 – Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), a leading global provider of information, insights and decision solutions for the consumer packaged goods (CPG), healthcare and retail industries, today announced that John Freeland, President-Worldwide Operations for salesforce.com, will join IRI as President and Chief Executive Officer effective October 1. He succeeds Scott W. Klein, who has served as President and CEO since January 2004 and is joining Symphony Technology Group as an operating partner while working with Mr. Freeland to ensure a seamless transition.
John Freeland brings over 28 years of enterprise information solutions and services experience to his role at IRI. At salesforce.com, Mr. Freeland was responsible for the company's Successforce portfolio of services and business alliances. Salesforce.com is one of the most successful software-as-a-service companies and has had one of the most successful IPO’s in recent years. Prior to joining salesforce.com, Mr. Freeland was Accenture’s Global Managing Partner leading and growing its global CRM practice from $ 1.2 billion to $ 3.7 billion during his tenure. He was also responsible for launching Accenture’s Market Sciences unit and served as managing partner responsible for building Accenture’s global insurance practice into an $ 800 million business. During his 26-year career at Accenture, Mr. Freeland was also appointed a member of Accenture’s executive committee. Mr. Freeland has a B.A. in Economics and an MBA from Columbia University.
“All of us at IRI are delighted to have a leader of John’s stature and experience join as President and CEO,” said Dr. Romesh Wadhwani, IRI’s owner and Chairman of Symphony Technology Group. “IRI has performed well in the last four years since its acquisition by Symphony and has established strong industry momentum and a reputation for innovation. We now need to supercharge our growth and profitability by driving new revenue and increased value for our clients, leveraging existing and new high-value solutions that combine our content, analytics and technology. John has made a career out of doing this at Accenture and Salesforce.com and will do it again at IRI.”
“I am thrilled to join IRI. This is a company with extraordinary talent, strong client relationships, deep domain expertise, and tremendous assets in content, analytics, and technology,” said Mr. Freeland. “I believe IRI’s growth prospects are very strong including many new and untapped areas of opportunity, and I am pleased to be working with such a visionary, passionate, and highly motivated leadership team. I also look forward to working closely with the worldwide IRI organization and its partners in addressing the most important pain points and needs of our clients.”
“In the end, it is all about delivering breakthrough insights that drive dramatic revenue growth and productivity for our clients,” added Dr. Wadhwani. “John is superbly equipped to lead this charge.”
About Information Resources, Inc.
IRI is the world’s leading provider of consumer, shopper, and retail market information, insights and decision solutions to 95 percent of the FORTUNE Global 500 consumer packaged goods (CPG), healthcare and retail companies. Only IRI offers the unique combination of integrated market and shopper information, automated analytics and predictive insights, innovative technology, and domain expertise. With IRI, leading manufacturers and retailers are able to drive their growth by quickly discovering breakthrough insights, making smarter decisions, taking faster actions across the enterprise, and achieving breakthrough results. Companies around the world depend on IRI for technology and solutions that enable brand building, successful new product launches, consumer-driven merchandising/retail execution and consumer and shopper relationship management. For more information, visit http://us.infores.com.
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IRI CONTACTS:
John McIndoe
E-mail: john.mcindoe@infores.com
Phone: (312) 474-3862
Fax: (312) 474-3420