DETROIT – Peter Karmanos Jr., CEO and chairman of Compuware, reportedly will step down in early 2013, but he might relinquish the CEO title to Compuware President Robert Paul later this year.
In an interview in the Detroit Free Press, Karmanos, 67, said he believes the company is on a roll that could nearly triple its market value to $6 billion in the next few years.
Karmanos would be 70 in 2013, and his company would celebrate its 40th anniversary. Karmanos said the target date on his exit from active daily duty is March 31, 2013.
He can ease himself out since there is a clear successor in place at Compuware. Robert Paul, 48, has been president and chief operating officer for the last two years.
“Hopefully, before long, I will move to executive chairman but still work, and Bob will go to CEO, and we’ll have (a new) COO in place,” Karmanos told the Free Press. This year, possibly? “I hope so,” he added.
The story said Karmanos wants to go out with his company on top. Compuware has been gaining momentum now after a volatile decade that began with a surge of Y2K computer code updating, but then a drastic plunge dropped annual company revenues from $2 billion in 2000 to $900 million last year.
Karmanos joined friends Thomas Thewes and Allen Cutting in 1973 to start Compuware with $9000 they received in income tax refunds.
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