LAS VEGAS, June 5, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- (WITH PHOTO) The board of directors of PurchasePro(r) (Nasdaq:PPRO) today appointed Richard L. Clemmer chief executive officer, succeeding Charles E. Johnson, Jr. who last month resigned his position as chairman of the board and left the company. Mr. Clemmer, 49, joined PurchasePro in May as chief financial officer.
Mr. Clemmer, who will now serve as chief executive officer and acting chief financial officer, said, "Over the past few months I have examined the business of PurchasePro in preparation for my tenure as chief financial officer. For the past two weeks I have been fully immersed in the operations and challenges of PurchasePro, both as chief financial officer and vice chairman of the board.
"It is eminently true that PurchasePro suffers from a credibility gap. We now have a communications program in place to close that gap. This is the dawning of a new era at PurchasePro; a new watch, and these challenges will be overcome and resolved with due, but deliberate dispatch. We have a strong and experienced management team in place to move the company forward; and a dedicated employee base to support our growing momentum. We have all the resources to achieve our primary objective of building great software that gives companies of all sizes universal access to the world's largest commerce network."
"To this end," Mr. Clemmer said, "we continue to receive extremely positive feedback from our customers about our solutions and the power of our products and our network. We are currently refining our business strategy to support our strong product strategy. I expect to announce new initiatives and a new approach during the coming weeks."
Mr. Clemmer also said that, "While I will continue in the role of acting chief financial officer, a search for a new CFO will be instituted shortly and we intend to fill that position as soon as the right person is found."
Mr. Clemmer brings broad high technology experience to PurchasePro, having managed more than $2 billion in mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures at Quantum, the world's largest supplier of tape automation systems and a leader in data protection.
Prior to joining Quantum, Mr. Clemmer was senior vice president and chief financial officer of Texas Instruments' $8 billion Semiconductor Group. While at Texas Instruments, Clemmer spearheaded the company's joint ventures with Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, Canon, Acer Computer, Kobe Steel and the Singapore government.
Mr. Clemmer holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from Texas Tech University and a master's in business administration from Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
About PurchasePro
PurchasePro(r), www.purchasepro.com, a leader in business-to-business e-commerce, operates the PurchasePro global marketplace, encompassing more than 155,000 businesses and powering hundreds of private-label marketplaces. PurchasePro provides the following business-to-business e-commerce solutions: e-Procurement for corporate procurement, v-Distributor for online distributors, e-MarketMaker for Internet market makers and e-Source for strategic sourcing.
This news release may include forward-looking statements, which are subject to the "Safe Harbor" created by Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that can cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements represent only the views of certain members of management and are based on limited information available to us now, which is subject to change. We have no current plan to update these statements. Actual results may differ substantially from what we say today and no one should assume at a later date that the forward-looking statements provided herein are still valid. They speak only as of today.
For more information about these risks and uncertainties, see the SEC filings of PurchasePro Inc., including the section titled "Factors That May Affect Results" in its 10-K filing for the period ended December 31, 2000, and its 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2001, which are available from the company on request and on the Internet at the SEC's Website, www.sec.gov.
Note: PurchasePro is a servicemark of PurchasePro.com Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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