The top executive at Denver-based desktop-publishing software firm Quark Inc. has left the company.
Quark said it told employees this week that president and chief executive Kamar Aulakh was out but gave little other information on why he left.
“It truly is a private matter between Mr. Aulakh and the company,” Quark spokesman Glen Turpin said.
The announcement comes just after the close of Quark’s customer summit in Keystone.
The board of directors Wednesday appointed as interim president Linda Chase, Quark’s senior vice president of commerce product development.
Chase has more than 20 years in the publishing industry, according to Quark. She will continue her current role along with serving as acting president.
The company hired executive search firm Christian & Timbers to find a new chief executive to “bring professional outside leadership.”
Aulakh is a software programmer who joined Quark in 1995 and became president in February 2004. He said he wanted to refocus the company on customers. Quark had suffered problems with customer service and losses of business to rival Adobe.
“When Kamar took over, he turned the company around and he put a customer-service face (on Quark),” said Pariah Burke, a desktop publishing consultant.
Customers were happy, but “some factions inside Quark were not (happy with Aulakh’s leadership),” according to Burke. “His plans didn’t sit well with the people immediately beneath him.”
Turpin said the company’s strategy to refocus on customers “has been very successful, and it’s been the work of each and every Quark employee.”
Staff writer Kelly Yamanouchi can be reached at 303-820-1488 or kyamanouchi@denverpost.com.
