Shaheen faces tough market as Siebel's new CEO

 Newly named Siebel Systems Chief Executive Officer (CEO) George Shaheen offered few concrete details about his plans for the company in a Wednesday conference call following his appointment, frustrating analysts who hoped for greater clarity on the impetus for Siebel's sudden executive shuffle.

Shaheen was joined on the call by Tom Siebel, who has generally shunned public appearances since stepping down last May as CEO of the company he founded. Siebel remains the company's chairman.

"After a comprehensive review of the company's operations and performance, the board determined that a change was necessary," Tom Siebel said on the call. Pressed by analysts for more detail on where deposed CEO Mike Lawrie went wrong, Siebel reiterated, "This is all about performance. That's the only issue."

San Mateo, California-based Siebel Systems said last week that its first-quarter sales missed expectations by a wide margin. Siebel also missed expectations in last year's second quarter, which ended less than two months after Lawrie took over as CEO. Siebel hit its financial targets in 2004's third and fourth quarter, but Tom Siebel said those results weren't good enough.

"Look at the company's performance over the last quarters," Siebel said. "In general, they did not meet investors' expectations. They did not meet our internal expectations."

Shaheen's appointment to the CEO post is permanent, Siebel said.

Shaheen, a member of Siebel's board since 1995, said he will focus on improving Siebel's execution. He did not discuss any specific changes he would implement, however, or talk about radical revisions to the company's strategy.

"I believe the key role I have as CEO going forward is to deliver on the promise of creating customer value," Shaheen said. "We are not running this company for short-term results. We are going to invest in it and invest in our future."

Several observers with knowledge of Shaheen's management style said he seems an excellent choice to lead Siebel.

"I could not be more pleased," said Mark Johnston, president of Tier1 Innovation LLC, a Denver services company that focuses on Siebel deployments. Johnson previously worked at Andersen Consulting, now Accenture Ltd., during Shaheen's tenure as Andersen's managing partner.

"[Shaheen] has more experience than anybody I can think of in terms of executing on a plan," Johnston said. "Lawrie may have set the tone for what 'Siebel Chapter 2' is going to look like, but in the last nine months, I really hadn’t seen anything in the way of execution. Shaheen understands services; he understands the role of partners. I definitely see this as a positive move for Siebel."

Enterprise Applications Consulting Inc. principal Josh Greenbaum called Shaheen "legendary" for his management of Andersen Consulting's complex separation from auditing company Arthur Andersen  not long before the auditing company collapsed in Enron's wake. As Accenture, Andersen Consulting went on to become a leading IT consultancy,

"He's a very, very strong executive," Greenbaum said.