Corel Corporation Appoints New CEO and Chairman

Top Ten Packaged Software Provider Names IBM Veteran David Dobson CEO And Elevates Current CEO Amish Mehta to Chairman

Experienced Executive Team Will Drive Corel to Its Next Stage Of Growth

Corel Corporation, a top ten global packaged software brand, today announced the appointment of David Dobson to Chief Executive Officer. Dobson succeeds Amish Mehta, who will be elevated to the role of Chairman. A seasoned executive with broad-based experience in operations, finance, sales, marketing, strategy and general management through a 20-year career at IBM Corporation, Dobson has proven expertise in developing, leading and transforming businesses that deliver greater value to customers and partners.

Dobson, an Ontario native, is committed to driving Corel's next stage of growth. Working closely with Mehta and Vector Capital, which acquired Corel in August 2003, Dobson will leverage Corel's core strengths - a powerful global distribution network, renowned brand and loyal base of millions of customers - to further strengthen its market position. Since the Vector acquisition, Corel has achieved six consecutive quarters of profitability and realized growth across its flagship products including the WordPerfect Office Productivity Suite, the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite and the Paint Shop Family of digital image editing software.

"Today, Corel is well-positioned as the brand providing the highest value in the packaged software industry and as the preferred alternative to complex, costly and inflexible software products," said Mehta. "Over the past two years, we have completed a successful corporate turnaround of Corel and acquired Jasc Software. Today, Corel is a thriving, profitable organization with a broad software portfolio spanning photo editing, graphics, vector illustration, office and personal productivity solutions. With David on board as our CEO, we will continue to solidify our market position across these segments as well as evaluate our entry into new markets."

As Chairman, Mehta will work closely with Dobson and the Corel team on potential acquisition opportunities and expansion initiatives in new markets. Dobson will focus on expanding Corel's global sales presence and fostering new business development while overseeing the release of six major new products over the next few quarters.

"David is the right person to lead Corel," said Mehta. "With his broad-based management experience from IBM, a global leader, he brings the optimal blend of strong leadership, global sales expertise and operational discipline to Corel."

"I am delighted to join Corel - a dynamic organization with unlimited potential in the packaged software industry," said Dobson. "My focus will be to ensure that Corel continues to meets customer requirements with high quality products and services that deliver the greatest possible value. In addition, I am committed to expanding Corel's position as a trusted global channel partner."

"Through my experiences at IBM, I've found that the vast majority of customers are seeking greater value and simplicity from their software investments," said Dobson. "Corel delivers these requirements which traditionally have not been fulfilled by the few available software choices on the market today. Corel has a phenomenal market opportunity to be the value leader in the packaged software industry. With proven, reliable solutions that are up to 60-80% less costly than comparable products, I believe that we will continue to attract millions of new users worldwide."

Dobson brings an impressive range of experience to Corel. Before joining Corel, he served as the Corporate Vice President, Strategy at IBM Corporation, where he had company-wide responsibility for IBM's Emerging Business Opportunity (EBO) program. In this capacity, Dobson led a team to identify, nurture and scale new businesses for IBM, including strategy development, early-stage investments and partner ecosystem development that enabled IBM to develop sustainable, profitable new businesses.

Previously, Dobson was general manager of IBM's Printing Systems Division, where he was responsible for leading a team of 4,500 worldwide employees to develop, sell, and support the digital print and document management industry's broadest range of products and services. Dobson joined the Printing Systems Division in 1999 and held the positions as Vice President, Global Marketing and Strategy and General Manager, Sales and Services, Americas. He has held numerous marketing, sales and finance positions within IBM's Personal Systems Group, Systems Group and IBM Canada, where he also served as General Manager, Channel & Partner Services, responsible for channel sales of all IBM products.

Dobson joined IBM in Toronto in 1986 and holds degrees in electrical engineering and business from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.

About Corel

Corel Corporation provides innovative software solutions that help millions of value-conscious businesses and consumers in over 75 countries improve their productivity. The Company is renowned for its powerful software portfolio that combines innovative photo editing and graphics creation, vector-illustration, and technical-graphics applications along with office and personal productivity solutions. Corel's flagship products include the CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite, the WordPerfect® Office Suite, the Corel Painter Natural-Media® painting and illustration software and the Paint Shop™ Family of digital photography and image-editing software.

Corel was acquired and taken private by San Francisco-based Vector Capital in August 2003, and since that time, has re-established growth for its flagship product lines and achieved six consecutive quarters of corporate profitability. Founded in 1985, Corel is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada. For more information, please visit www.corel.com.

Corel, WordPerfect, CorelDRAW, Painter, Paint Shop Pro, DESIGNER, Natural-Media and the Corel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Corel Corporation and/or its subsidiaries. All other product, font and company names and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies

Corel Corporation Appoints New CEO and Chairman

Top Ten Packaged Software Provider Names IBM Veteran David Dobson CEO And Elevates Current CEO Amish Mehta to Chairman

Experienced Executive Team Will Drive Corel to Its Next Stage Of Growth

About Corel

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