Verity Inc says that president and chief executive Philippe Courtot was pushed out by the board because the company was not sufficiently profitable – it has alternated between narrow profits and heavy losses over the past few quarters. Things must have got pretty serious over at the Sunnyvale-based search and retrieval software company, as the man chosen to replace him, Gary Sbona is chief executive of Regent Pacific Management Corp, a turnaround management firm based in Cupertino, California and New York City. His firm has been retained by Verity. The company would only repeat the press release that he has more than 20 years experience in the management of software and high technology companies, without actually being able to name any of them. Courtot was apparently that technology company cliche: a great technology guy that lacked the management skills to keep the momentum going. It is not yet clear whether Sbona is in for the long run or there to groom or find a successor, which would seem most likely.
