OpenText appoints James McGourlay as Interim CEO while searching for a permanent CEO. With the leadership change, OpenText intends to continue exploring “portfolio-shaping opportunities” in order to focus on its core Information Management for AI business.
OpenText, an Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) provider, announced on August 11, 2025, that it has appointed James McGourlay as Interim Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. James McGourlay succeeds Mark Barrenechea, who has stepped down from his positions as CEO, CTO, and Vice Chairman of the Board.
According to OpenText, a CEO Search Committee of independent directors has been formed to oversee the selection of a permanent CEO. To support the transition, the Board has created an Executive Committee chaired by Thomas Jenkins, now serving as Executive Chair and Chief Strategy Officer. The committee includes James McGourlay, senior sales and finance executives, and Interim CFO & Chief Accounting Officer Michael Acedo. Savinay Berry, formerly EVP and Chief Product Officer, has been promoted to CTO.
Thomas Jenkins, Executive Chair and Chief Strategy Officer at OpenText, commented: “After a thorough review of the business and its performance, and as we look ahead to the Company’s future, the Board believes there is an opportunity to enhance shareholder value by growing revenue in our core Information Management for AI business and redeploying capital from the non-core assets. On behalf of the Board, I thank Mark for 13 years of dedicated service at OpenText and we wish him the best. Now is the right time for this leadership transition, and James is the ideal leader to serve as Interim CEO. I look forward to working with him and our Executive Leadership Team to ensure that OpenText continues to advance its strategy.”
James McGourlay, Interim CEO at OpenText, commented on his new role: “With the Company’s Business Optimization Plan well underway, and given our position at the forefront of Information Management for AI, I am confident that we will continue to innovate across these areas and deliver solutions that power our customers’ businesses.”
Analysis by industry analysts Dan Lucarini and Alan Pelz-Sharpe (both Deep Analysis), and Ralph Gammon (Infosource):
How will the leadership changes at OpenText affect the Intelligent Document Processing market? “Not at all,” said Dan Lucarini. He continued: “OpenText is not an innovator in IDP (note: OpenText is a ‘2nd Wave’ company in what Dan Lucarini refers to as the 4 Waves of IDP). Once a mighty player in document capture (IDP’s predecessor), the company is now a follower playing defense, not a leader. This should be no surprise to anyone who paid attention to OpenText’s business model. Barrenechea himself once said his company operates more like a private equity business, acquiring mature software businesses for the free cash flow, dividend creation, and ongoing maintenance revenue streams. And – as is too often true of most PE firms – OpenText also reduced the R&D budgets of the acquired products. That always dampens innovation, and the products inevitably lagged the competitors.”
Alan Pelz-Sharpe, Founder of Deep Analysis, commented: “That’s big news in our industry, as OpenText is one of the most prominent players, but in truth, it didn’t come as a big shock. There has been speculation among OpenText watchers, employees, and competitors for some time that a significant change was coming. The most obvious external evidence of this is the company’s stock price, which has been hovering around the $30 mark for some time, following a five-year high of just over $50. In other words, OpenText has not experienced the significant AI-driven surge that others have. Contrast the fact that its rival Box’s share price has risen 85% over the past five years, whilst OpenText’s has dropped 27%.” He added: “A new set of eyes, a new strategy, and a different approach, along with some tough decision-making, are now needed. We will be watching with interest how things pan out, and we hope it works out well. There is a lot to like about OpenText; it has a fantastic history, substantial revenue of over $5 billion, and, last but certainly not least, some wonderful people working there. With hard work and a bit of luck, OpenText could come out restructured, stronger, and on a path to much greater success in the future.”
Ralph Gammon, Market Analyst at Infosource, commented: “It took me by surprise that OpenText decided to part ways this week with long-time CEO & CTO Mark J. Barrenechea. The announcement came in the wake of last week’s disappointing year-end fiscal 2025 results, which saw a 3% decline in overall revenue.” Commenting on Thomas Jenkins’ statement (see above), he said: “From my standpoint, this indicates a doubling down on the content services business, which was an early focus of OpenText and where my coverage has primarily been focused, and perhaps divesting in some areas like software testing and quality assurance platforms and IT operations management tools. In content services, including Capture & IDP, I think OpenText has a solid strategy, ground in applying AI to content users already store with them in a secure fashion. And, while OpenText might not be the splashiest IDP vendor when it comes introducing new features and functionality, it remains a leader in global market share with many high-volume applications across multiple verticals. It has also improved in recent years at integrating Capture & IDP into more end-to-end automation opportunities addressed by other pieces of its Information Management portfolio. If OpenText does wish to accelerate its development, there are plenty of IDP start-ups from the last 10 years available for acquisition.”
Headquartered Waterloo, Canada, OpenText uses machine learning and AI to automate manual content processes, such as accounts payable, back-file conversion and onboarding, and transform paper and digital content into actionable data.
You can find the full press release here. To find more news from OpenText, click here.
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