OSLO, NORWAY - 31 JULY 2006 - Ontopia, the leading provider of topic map-based systems, announced today that its board of directors has named Tor Heiberg to serve as the company's chief executive officer.
Heiberg has spent the last two years as Managing Director of Navita Systems AS, a supplier of energy trade and risk management systems, which he established through an MBO from OMX Technology Energy Systems AS where he had been General Manager since 2000.
Steve Pepper, Ontopia's Chairman, said that Heiberg was the unanimous choice based on his track record of building a successful software technology company. "His experience developing relationships with large multi-nationals and managing offices in and outside Norway told us he was the right person to lead Ontopia through our next stages of growth," said Pepper.
"Heiberg's deep understanding of not only the business issues but also the technical ones made him the obvious choice," said Lars Marius Garshol, who was recently named as CTO after six years as Ontopia's Development Manager.
Heiberg's move to the CEO role is accompanied by other management changes at Ontopia. Steve Pepper, who has also served as Chief Strategy Officer, will resign from executive duties on 1 October in order to pursue a more independent role as consultant and leader of the Topic Maps community. He will continue as Chairman of Ontopia's Board.
Pam Gennusa, who has been CEO since January 2004, will return to her previous role of COO, and will continue to be based in Cambridge, UK. "With Tor's extensive technical background and proven successes, we are confident that he can accelerate our transition from a software toolkit supplier into a company with targeted solutions for the semantic portal market," she said.
Heiberg, who takes up his new position on 1 August 2006 and will be located in Ontopia's Oslo headquarters, remarked, "I'm very pleased to have been named to this position. I look forward to working with our customers and partners as we continue to shape and improve our solutions for taxonomy and ontology management."
For more information, write to Ontopia at mailto:info@ontopia.net or visit http://www.ontopia.net
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About Ontopia (www.ontopia.net): Ontopia is the world's leading supplier of Topic Maps-based technology. The Ontopia Knowledge Suite provides content creators with tools for taxonomy/ontology management, portal creation, and dynamic content aggregation that improve findability and discovery. End-users, system integrators, and OEMs meet knowledge management challenges using Ontopia's technology, training, and support services, and its worldwide network of partners. Founded in 2000, Ontopia is privately held. Address: Waldemar Thranes gt. 98, N- 0175 Oslo, Norway. +47 23 23 3080.