Five PLM developers with new CEOs in 5 years tells us a bit about where PLM is headed.
When Andover, Massachusetts-based PLM developer Aras announced in September 2025 that Leon Lauritsen would step up as Chief Executive Officer, the news barely made a ripple outside PLM circles. Yet, this was not just another internal promotion. It was another piece in a pattern that has reshaped the leadership of nearly every major PDM/PLM vendor in the past five years.
Dassault Systèmes, PTC, Siemens, SAP—and now Aras—all transitioned to new CEOs since 2020. Some were founder successions, others generational handovers. All carry strategic implications for customers, partners, and the industry at large.
This wave of executive change is no coincidence. It reflects a structural shift: from an era dominated by founder-visionaries to one driven by operators. From leaders who inspired long-term visions of digital continuity and Industry 4.0, to leaders mandated to execute, scale, and monetize.
Closing one chapter, opening another
For decades, the PLM landscape has been shaped by charismatic figures with deep roots in R&D.
- Bernard Charlès personified Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE narrative, embedding PLM into a vision of virtual twins and the “Industry Renaissance.” His influence stretched beyond technology—he reframed how entire industries approached innovation.
- Jim Heppelmann became synonymous with PTC’s pivot from CAD to IoT, AR, and eventually SaaS. His tenure was defined by bold bets and transformative acquisitions, pushing PTC into new competitive arenas.
- Peter Schroer, founder of Aras, brought a disruptor’s mindset—challenging incumbents with an open, low-code PLM model. His legacy set the tone for Aras’s eventual profitability and SaaS transition.
- Bill McDermott (SAP) and Joe Kaeser (Siemens) were not PLM founders per se, but they embodied larger corporate transformations, with PLM nested in their broader enterprise and industrial visions.
But leadership is not infinite. Succession is inevitable. Charlès and Heppelmann both moved upstairs in 2024, retaining Chairmanship roles while handing the operational CEO mantle to successors with very different profiles. Dassault elevated CFO/COO Pascal Daloz. PTC appointed Neil Barua, a ServiceMax operator with SaaS credentials.
In both cases, boards sent a clear message: the next era is about disciplined execution. Here is a consolidated view of recent CEO changes across the PLM vendor landscape:
| Company | New CEO | Previous CEO | Strategic emphasis |
| Dassault Systèmes | Pascal Daloz, long-time insider, former COO, CFO, Deputy CEO | Bernard Charlès, CEO until Jan 2024 (moved to Chairman) | Continuity of vision; scale SaaS and virtual twin adoption, drive EPS growth by 2028 |
| PTC | Neil Barua, ex-CEO ServiceMax; SaaS and operational background | Jim Heppelmann, CEO until Feb 2024 (retired, became Chairman) | Transition from innovator to operator; recurring revenue, Atlas platform integration |
| Aras | Leon Lauritsen, veteran from Aras/Minerva; led global sales & EMEA | Roque Martin, CEO until Sep 2025 | Drive next SaaS/digital thread growth phase; AI-driven low-code PLM |
| Siemens | Roland Busch, Siemens insider, previously COO | Joe Kaeser, CEO until Feb 2021 | Expand Siemens Xcelerator; embed PLM in industrial metaverse, AI, cloud-native ecosystem |
| SAP | Christian Klein, long-time SAP executive, previously COO | Bill McDermott, left Oct 2019; Jennifer Morgan, interim until Apr 2020 | Cloud ERP (RISE with SAP), embed PLM in enterprise suites, sustainability, 83% recurring revenue (ref. SAP Q4/FY 2024) |
Vendor strategies in transition
The CEO profiles alone reveal much about industry priorities:
- Dassault Systèmes: Daloz inherits a company rooted in vision. His mandate is to industrialize execution. Where Charlès focused on expanding the conceptual boundaries of PLM and the Industry Renaissance, Daloz must prove that 3DEXPERIENCE SaaS can deliver predictable, recurring returns. Dassault has publicly tied his leadership to doubling EPS by 2029—a clear financial anchor to complement the trillion-euro market aspiration.
- PTC: Barua arrives as an operator after a decade of Heppelmann’s bold acquisitions and technology bets. Atlas—the SaaS backbone—needs consolidation. Investors expect subscription growth, not new moonshots. Barua’s playbook will likely emphasize integration, efficiency, and monetization, turning PTC into a SaaS cash machine.
- Aras: Lauritsen takes the helm of a profitable company that successfully navigated its SaaS transition under Roque Martin. His sales pedigree suggests a more strategic commercial approach. Expect Aras to leverage digital thread, low-code PLM, and AI-enabled solutions as competitive differentiators against larger incumbents. This is about scaling adoption and positioning Aras as a disruptive challenger.
- Siemens: Under Busch, PLM is no longer a standalone product line but a component of Siemens’ Xcelerator platform. The emphasis is on openness, subscription, and ecosystem integration. Busch’s CTO background positions him to blend engineering software with AI, IoT, and cloud-native architecture, steering Siemens toward a holistic digital-industrial stack.
- SAP: Klein’s leadership has solidified SAP’s pivot to the cloud and AI, with PLM functions integrated into its ERP core. PLM becomes a process capability rather than a discrete solution—bundled into supply chain, manufacturing, and sustainability workflows. This strategy aligns with SAP’s broader cloud transformation and its ambition to make PLM an integral part of enterprise operations.
From vision to execution
The common denominator: a pivot from visionaries to operators. Boards now demand predictable performance, not just inspiring narratives. That explains the backgrounds of the new CEOs: CFOs, COOs, sales leaders, SaaS operators. They represent continuity in vision but new accountability in execution.
For the industry, this signals:
- Acceleration of SaaS and subscription models: Vendors will push customers harder toward recurring revenue models. Expect subscription-only offerings to dominate.
- Integration into broader platforms: PLM technology will increasingly be sold as part of ecosystems—such as Xcelerator, 3DEXPERIENCE, or S/4HANA—not as isolated deployments; most vendors do not even refer to “PLM” as it is perceived as a “niche” subject and a topic of recurring philosophical debate among pundits.
- M&A and portfolio expansion: As I argued in my previous article, operator-CEOs are more likely to rationalize portfolios and pursue acquisitions. PTC’s ServiceMax deal was a harbinger; more consolidation is inevitable.
For engineering and manufacturing leaders, these transitions will shape investment choices. A few points stand out:
- Platform lock-in risk: As PLM becomes integrated into broader platforms, customers will need to weigh the benefits of the ecosystem against the risks of vendor dependency.
- Shift in value propositions: Vendors will emphasize outcomes—sustainability, AI enablement, digital thread continuity—rather than technical features alone.
- Financial rigor: Pricing models, adoption roadmaps, and customer success metrics will align more tightly with vendors’ recurring revenue goals.
The end of one era, the beginning of another
The last two decades of PLM have been defined by visionaries who expanded the scope of what PLM could be—digital twin, Industry 4.0, and the industrial metaverse. The next decade will be defined by operators who deliver those visions at scale.
This transition should not be underestimated. It is more than a personnel change. It is the pivot from one era of PLM to another: from promise to performance, from vision to execution, from founder-led innovation to board-driven predictability.
The open question is whether this shift will unlock the full potential of the Industry Renaissance, or whether operational discipline will come at the expense of disruptive ambition.
Either way, the baton has been passed. A new era of PLM leadership has begun.
