Meridian Project Systems Expands Management Team With New CEO

Corporate Strategist joins Meridian cofounders for next stage of growth

Folsom, CA - (December 5, 2002) -- Meridian Project Systems (Meridian), a leading provider of project management software and ASP solutions, announced today the appointment of James T. Olsen as its new chief executive officer. This announcement concludes an intensive CEO search process for Meridian, and coincides with the achievement of several growth milestones for the company. Olsen brings to Meridian a successful track record as a corporate strategist and marketing executive at several telecommunications companies including Nortel, DSC Communications, and most recently Objective Systems Integrators (OSI).

Co-founders John Bodrozic and David Towert launched Meridian nearly a decade ago to develop leading-edge technology solutions for the project management arena. Since its inception, Meridian has made the INC 500 list two years in a row, grown its customer base to more than 100,000 users, and established a market leadership position with its Prolog and ProjectTalk solutions. According to CFMA’s 2002 Technology Survey*, Meridian is the market share leader in project management software used by general contractors over $250 million in revenue. Meridian is also the market share leader in project collaboration software for all contractor types over $250 million in revenue with its ASP solution ProjectTalk.com.

"This new CEO appointment is part of Meridian’ long-term growth strategy,” said John Bodrozic, president and co-founder of Meridian. "With Jim’s operations software background to Fortune 500 companies, we can advance our market leadership and effectively bring Meridian’ powerful project management solutions across multiple enterprise markets.” Bodrozic will continue to act in the capacity of president, managing the sales, marketing, and service functions at Meridian in Folsom, CA.

“Olsen is a seasoned technology company executive with strong strategic planning and management skills. He has demonstrated a tremendous track record through his leadership, vision and understanding of strategic market issues,” said David Towert, who will formally transition the title of CEO to Jim, but maintain his chief technology officer role leading the Meridian R&D team and the company’s technology initiatives from Vancouver, BC.

Previously, Jim Olsen served as executive vice president at Objective Systems Integrators (formerly NASDAQ: OSII), a leading operations management software vendor for the telecommunications industry based in Folsom, CA. As executive vice president, Jim was responsible for global sales, marketing, product management, product development, customer services, business development and investor relations. At OSI, Olsen developed and executed a 3-year strategic business plan that generated new revenue streams and refocused the company on new markets with new products. Under Olsen’s tenure, OSI achieved record growth in revenues, sales backlog, and profitability over 5 quarters, while increasing its stock price from a company low of $2.06/share to a 4-year high of $24.00/share.

Prior to OSI, Olsen was Vice President of Marketing at DSC Communications Corp., a large integrated communication equipment vendor, where he was responsible for strategic planning, product management and global marketing for networking and new service solutions. Olsen also worked for Nortel, Inc., as Director, Product Line Management overseeing business and product development activities for broadband switching and service solutions. Previously in his career, Olsen held several sales and operations management positions at various organizations throughout the Midwest.

“Meridian has a demonstrated history of growth and innovation, and I’m very impressed by the company’s market leading products and internal teams,” said Olsen. “As Meridian looks ahead to some exciting new markets, I'm delighted to take on the challenge of leading the company and its experienced management team to even greater success.”

About Meridian
Meridian Project Systems, a leading provider of project management software and ASP solutions, debuted on Inc magazine's INC 500 as the 56th fastest growing company in the United States in 2000, and has appeared on the prestigious list two years in a row. More than 100,000 professionals from Fortune 500 corporations, government agencies, manufacturers, and AEC firms use Meridian products. In the Business of Projects since 1993, Meridian offers both software and ASP-based tools, including award-winning Prolog Manager, ProjectTalk.com and GigaPlan products. Meridian is headquartered in Folsom, Calif., with offices in Düsseldorf, Germany; Vancouver, British Columbia; and St. Petersburg, Russia. Visit www.MeridianSystems.com for further information.

* Information Technology Survey for the Construction Industry, published by Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA), Fourth Edition 2002.

Media Contact:
Sue Watkins
Meridian Project Systems
(916) 294-2136
swatkins@meridiansystems.com