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Kinaxis says search for new CEO ‘continues apace’ as firm adds new board member

January 2, 2025

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Kinaxis has appointed veteran Canadian finance executive Lynn Loewen to its board of directors as it continues its search for a new chief executive to replace John Sicard. Loewen, who will serve on the board’s audit committee, has been chancellor of her alma mater, Mount Allison University in Sackville, N.B., since 2018. A chartered accountant by trade, Loewen has held key leadership positions at a number of major Canadian companies. Her resume includes stints as vice-president of finance operations and vice-president of financial controls at Bell Canada and vice-president of corporate services and chief financial officer at Air Canada Jazz. In addition to naming Loewen to its board, Kinaxis also announced that Betsy Rafael will not be seeking re-election to the board when her term expires later this year. “I’m pleased to add an exceptionally qualified director in Lynn, who will ensure we maintain the strength of the audit oversight function, while bolstering the board in a number of ways,” board chair Robert Courteau said in a statement on Thursday. “Betsy has been an exceptional board member and we fully respect that she has several other professional and personal commitments that are taking her time. We appreciate her significant efforts and contributions and wish her the very best.” The board shakeup comes after Sicard retired on Dec. 31 after spending more than three decades with the Kanata-based supply-chain management software company, including the last nine years as president and CEO. Sicard, who will now serve as a consultant to Kinaxis management, has also stepped down from the board of directors. Courteau will fill the CEO’s chair on an interim basis while the search for a new chief executive “continues apace,” the company said Thursday. “Much of the credit for Kinaxis being a leader in the supply chain orchestration space goes to John,” Courteau said, adding he will work with Sicard, new president of commercial operations Mark Morgan and the company’s management team to “ensure a smooth transition” to a new CEO “who will guide us into the next stage of growth and beyond.” As Kinaxis enters 2025, the company faces mounting scrutiny from shareholders who are concerned about its direction amid ongoing upheaval in its senior leadership ranks. Since last summer, two high-profile investment firms have publicly called on Kinaxis’s board to “aggressively” explore the possibility of a sale. The investors made it clear they aren’t happy with the steep decline in Kinaxis’s stock price since late 2020, as well as the departures of Sicard and chief sales officer Claire Rychlewski, who vacated a C-suite that has already seen several key figures exit in the past 12 months. Kinaxis, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, said its revenues rose 12 per cent year-over-year in the third quarter ending Sept. 30 to $121.6 million. In late October, the company said its total revenues for 2024 would likely come in at the lower end of its projected guidance of between $483 million and $495 million. Kinaxis’s shares were up eight cents to $173.22 in early afternoon trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.