Lotus' flamboyant chief resigns

Timing his departure to cause, "the least possible disruption," Jeffrey Papows has resigned as president and CEO of Lotus.

Papows is credited with guiding the growth of Lotus since its 1995 acquisition by IBM. He is also seen as helping build Lotus Notes as a viable competitor to Microsoft's Exchange. There are now an estimated 35 million Notes users.

While both Papows and IBM are positioning the departure as Papows' decision, the prominent knowledge management leader has been under scrutiny since April, 1999. At that time, The Wall Street Journal exposed inconsistencies and embellishments in his record.

Following the January 6 resignation, Al Zollar has been named to succeed Papows effective February 1.

Zollar has over 20 years experience at IBM, most recently, as general manager of the Network Computing Software division.

Papows will remain at Lotus to assist in the transition until sometime in the second quarter