TX-FORTERRO
17.2.2021 10:02:16 CET | Business Wire | Press release
Forterro , a group of companies that deliver enterprise resource planning (ERP) software to small- and medium-sized businesses, today announced the appointment of two new executives to lead the company into a new phase of growth in its core market, Europe.
Dean Forbes, a longtime, U.K.-based software executive who was most recently the president of The Access Group, was named Forterro’s chief executive. Paul Smolinski, the former chief financial officer of HR and payroll software firm CoreHR, was named CFO. The two U.K.-based leaders have been tapped to continue Forterro’s growth strategy in Europe, working with the company’s strategic leadership teams across the group’s primary business units in France, Germany, Poland, Sweden, and Switzerland.
Forbes joins Forterro after an extensive career in executive and senior leadership roles for a number of international software companies. Most recently he led the growth and expansion of CoreHR, a UK HCM software provider, across Europe. CoreHR was acquired by The Access Group, where Forbes subsequently served as president and executive board member. Prior to CoreHR, Forbes was CEO of Paris-headquartered SaaS software company KDS, where he led the successful growth and international expansion of the firm, leading to its acquisition by American Express. Earlier in his career, Forbes held senior leadership roles at Philadelphia HQ’d Primavera Systems and, subsequently, Oracle where he was global vice president for sales and marketing for the PPM Division. Forbes brings this wealth of experience to Forterro and its acquired companies, which include abas Software (Germany); BPSC (Poland); Clip Industrie, Silog and Sylob (France); Jeeves and Infocube (Sweden); and ProConcept (Switzerland). Forterro is backed by global, technology-focused investment firm Battery Ventures.
“I am thrilled to become part of such a strong group of ERP companies, who are all successfully operating in one of the strongest, most steadily growing markets in enterprise software,” Forbes said. “The cornerstone of our ongoing success will be to continue investing in the market leadership positions of local and niche ERP software businesses throughout Europe. I am excited about leading the next stage of the Forterro journey as we look to continue to grow the business aggressively, both organically and through further acquisitions.”
“Bringing in new, Europe-based leadership is part of the natural evolution of Forterro,” said Dave Tabors, a Forterro board member and Battery Ventures private equity partner. “Former CEO Jeff Tognoni, former COO Scott Malia, and the rest of the U.S.-based Forterro leadership team have done an outstanding job of growing the business by evaluating, acquiring, and operating ERP companies. To push Forterro into its next stage of development, however, it is time to cultivate leadership talent in closer proximity to our business unit operations. We are very excited to work with Dean as he prepares Forterro for its next stage of growth.”
“We have spent the last several years working closely with our counterparts in Europe to build sustainable growth strategies and unique operating approaches for each business unit and product market,” added Jeff Tognoni, who is stepping down after leading Forterro and growing revenue more than seven-fold since the initial acquisition of Jeeves Information Systems in 2012. “The strength of our local teams and their businesses lets me know that part of our job is done, and that Forterro is ready for new challenges and continued success under the leadership of Dean and Paul.”
ABOUT FORTERRO
Forterro is a group of companies that deliver ERP software to SMEs in specialized geographical or vertical markets. Backed by the investment of Battery Ventures , Forterro operates business units in Sweden, Switzerland, France, Poland, and Germany, as well as regional office locations and research and development centers around the world. Through its ever-growing ecosystem of IP and capital, Forterro collaborates with local management teams to strengthen the solution offerings and operational performance of its portfolio companies. For more information, visit www.forterro.com .
ABOUT BATTERY VENTURES
Battery partners with exceptional founders and management teams developing category-defining businesses in markets including software and services, enterprise infrastructure, online marketplaces, healthcare IT and industrial technology. Founded in 1983, the firm backs companies at all stages, ranging from seed and early to growth and buyout, and invests globally from six strategic locations: Boston; San Francisco and Menlo Park, Calif.; Herzliya, Israel; London; and New York. Follow the firm on Twitter @BatteryVentures, visit our website at www.battery.com and find a full list of Battery's portfolio companies here.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210217005237/en/
About Business Wire
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Footprint Expands Into PE-Free Cups, Bringing a Proven, Recyclable and Home-Compostable Alternative to Plastic-Lined Paper Cups Into Production21.7.2026 18:00:00 CEST | Press release
Move strengthens Footprint’s European manufacturing platform and supports growing demand for practical alternatives to single-use plastic Footprint, a materials science and technology company focused on eliminating single-use plastics, today announced it has acquired a recyclable, home-compostable, polyethylene (PE)-free hot and cold cup platform from Transcend Packaging, along with next-generation paper lid and straw solutions. Transcend Packaging is a European company focused on innovation in sustainable packaging solutions. Together, the cup, lid, and straw expand Footprint’s portfolio with a proven solution for the global cup market. Footprint will begin scaling its new PE-free solution through its Poland facility as the company expands across Europe, with North America to follow. As operations ramp in Poland, Footprint will work with Transcend through a manufacturing partnership to support customer continuity across Europe and meet growing demand for practical alternatives to plas
Spectro Cloud Launches PaletteAI Inference Launchpad to Reduce Enterprise Token Costs by up to 70%21.7.2026 16:00:00 CEST | Press release
New turnkey, locally managed PaletteAI Inference Launchpad helps enterprises control token costs with local-first inference, while expanded PaletteAI support for AMD gives customers more choice across GPUs, models and AI infrastructure stacks. Spectro Cloud, a leading provider of AI infrastructure management software, today launched PaletteAI Inference Launchpad, a turnkey, locally managed solution designed to help enterprises reduce token costs by as much as 70% and run AI inference closer to their data, applications and users. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260721597271/en/ The company also announced expanded PaletteAI support for AMD-powered AI infrastructure, including AMD GPUs, AMD GPU Operator, ROCm™ runtime, and the AMD enterprise AI reference stack — including AMD-optimized models from the AMD Inference Microservices (AIMs) catalog. Together, the announcements expand PaletteAI as one platform for prod
RecVue Launches First AI Native Agentic Revenue Operating System21.7.2026 15:03:00 CEST | Press release
New agentic architecture for RevOS runs enterprise revenue across the order-to-cash lifecycle and surfaces cross-system intelligence RecVue, the leader in billing and revenue management solutions, today announced the evolution of RecVue RevOS into the industry's first Agentic Revenue Operating System. In an architectural shift, the now-native agentic revenue management platform moves revenue operations beyond AI-assisted workflows to fully governed, autonomous execution with more than 50 purpose-built agents that work across contracts, invoices and payment data to predict risk, surface anomalies and escalate exceptions throughout the quote-to-cash lifecycle. Enterprise revenue operations have long suffered from a structural gap between billing systems that generate invoices and ERP systems that record transactions. Finance teams face tedious, manual reconciliation month after month, often resulting in delayed cash, billing errors that generate disputes, revenue leakage from ungoverned
Yubico Extends Passkeys Beyond Trusted Authentication to Verified Authorization with Launch of YubiKey 5.821.7.2026 15:00:00 CEST | Press release
YubiKey 5.8 extends hardware-backed assurance from authentication into emerging digital signature, wallet, payment and agentic approval workflows Yubico (NASDAQ STOCKHOLM: YUBICO), the pioneer of phishing-resistant authentication and creator of the original passkey, the YubiKey, today announced the general availability of its YubiKey 5.8 – marking an expansion of the role of the passkey from secure authentication to include verifiable, hardware-backed authorization. The new firmware delivers a foundation for secure enterprise workflows across identity wallets, document signing, and AI-driven approvals, while also providing developers with the critical capabilities needed to test, design and deploy these next-generation security features early. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260721286409/en/ As generative and agentic AI mature to drive rapid, automated cyberattacks, traditional multi-factor authentication (MFA
Gurobi Publishes Inaugural State of Mathematical Optimization in Academia Report21.7.2026 15:00:00 CEST | Press release
Findings showcase how academics are leveraging optimization alongside GenAI tools in the classroom and in research today. Gurobi Optimization, LLC, the leader in decision intelligence technology, today announced the publication of its inaugural State of Mathematical Optimization in Academia Report. Based on surveys of over 1,180 faculty and students who actively use Gurobi, the report examines how optimization is being taught, used in research, and applied across academia today—as well as use cases that could benefit from a combination of generative AI (GenAI) with optimization. Gurobi’s research highlights the importance of making optimization education and tools accessible to students and instructors. “Mathematical optimization is powering some of the most effective decision-making across today’s enterprises, and the academic community is key to advancing its theory and practice,” said Duke Perrucci, CEO, Gurobi. “By exploring how students, researchers, and educators are teaching and
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom