Another interesting announcement from Empower today was the appointment of a new chief executive to take over from Avneur Schneur, the company's founder. Industry veteran Patrick Quirk takes over today (1 October) bringing with him a quarter of a century's worth of experience from the likes of PeopleSoft, where he oversaw the JD Edwards acquisition. 

The news was delivered by William Atkinson, group president of technology at Marlin Equity Partners (him with the money...) and chairman of the board, who described Quirk as one of the top five experts in this space. 

Marlin invested in Emptoris in December last year following a very public legal spat with Ariba, which left it with a legal bill to settle, a ruling which Atkinson described as "frivolous" (expect some movement there in the not-too-distant future...)

Announcing Quirk's appointment, Atkinson said that the company was in need of new leadership, but that the senior management team remained one of the core strength's of the company.