CA loses Bill McCracken, Mike Gregoire to fill the gap in

Software monolith appoints Taleo, PeopleSoft and EDS alumnus as CEO

CA Technologies has picked former EDS and PeopleSoft big-hitter Mike Gregoire as its new chief executive.

The new head honcho will take office on 7 January, replacing Bill McCracken, who is retiring and resigning his post on the CA board. He will remain at the company until 31 March to oversee the handover, and will operate in a consulting capacity until the end of next year. The 70-year-old outgoing chief has been with the software giant for more than seven years, serving as CEO for three.

Gregoire joins from cloud-based software outfit Taleo, where he spent seven years as chief executive. He led the company through an IPO in 2005 and saw annual revenues swell from $78m to $324m (£48m to £201m), prior to the firm's acquisition by Oracle this year. Before his time at Taleo, Gregoire spent time at PeopleSoft and EDS.

"I accepted the position because I believe CA Technologies has a compelling value proposition, a strong reputation and a growing relevance for customers, software engineering and partners," said Gregoire (pictured).

"It is clear that CA Technologies is well positioned to lead the industry as companies find it more critical than ever to manage and secure their IT environments in the cloud and efficiently provide business services that enable them to win in the marketplace."