Kofax pushes through with positive changes

There is no question Kofax has made a lot of changes over the past year, as CEO Reynolds Bish has really put his stamp on the company. In October of 2008 Bish was named “Director of the Year for Companies in Transition” by the Corporate Directors Forum, an organization that promotes excellence in corporate governance. The award recognizes a director who has significantly contributed to taking a company through major changes such as its start-up, a merger, an acquisition, the sale of the company, executive management changes or other events.

Since then Bish’s main focus has been to increase the Kofax average deal size by creating a strong direct sales force. Of course, this created concerns about Kofax’s dedication to the VAR channel, which has historically served as its primary sales force. That’s why it was refreshing to see a recent announcement about the Irvine, CA-based software vendor hiring two industry veterans with substantial channel experience.

Dan Lucarini, who has been named senior director of business development, was for years a big advocate and marketing director for the Alchemy reseller channel. He left Captaris after its acquisition by Open Text. And Barbara Lanci, who has been named senior director of partner strategy and development, was a director of channel development for Kofax in the late 1990s. Both will report to Jim Vickers.