JD Edwards has eliminated the position of chief operating officer as it reorganizes its executive reporting lines. Hank Bonde, who served as COO since joining the company in February 2001, will leave the company on December 31.

The company said the move is designed to enable it to increase its responsiveness and the speed with which it can adapt to changing customer needs and shifting market demands.

Bonde was appointed by previous CEO and JD Edwards co-founder Edward McVaney who retired in January 2002, who cited Bonde's "results-oriented leadership" as one of his key attributes when Bonde was appointed.

The removal of the COO layer is a rational decicsion and does streamline the reporting structure. Prior to the reorganization, some department heads reported to Bonde while others had a direct line to chairman, CEO and president Bob Dutkowsky. Following the reorganization, they will all report to Dutkowsky.

It is thought that the elimination of Bonde's position is part of the current CEO's action to build his own management team.

In addition to the COO post, the streamlining program will have most effect on the areas of product management & product marketing; sales, consulting & services; and software engineering.

The most significant change is in the area of software engineering, which under Michael Madden, group vice president/chief technology officer: software engineering, will take responsibility for all research and development activities, thereby uniting ERP, CRM and SCM development in one unit. The program tidies up some of the management mess created following the acquisitions of CRM vendor YouCentric and SCM provider Numetrix.

Product marketing and product management will be brought into one department headed by Les Wyatt, senior vice president/chief marketing officer: marketing & product management.

Sales, consulting and services for the US will be united within one department headed by Harry Debes, senior vice president: Americas sales, consulting & services, while Richard Mathews, senior vice president: international sales, consulting & services heads the corresponding division for non-US activities.

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