Five months after ousting longtime leader Mark Barrenechea amidst declining revenue, OpenText has found the guy it believes can bring those numbers back up.
Antoun is claiming the position from interim CEO James McGourlay, who will shift to another role in OpenTextâs executive leadership.
The Kitchener-Waterloo-based company announced the appointment of Ayman Antoun as its incoming CEO on Thursday. In taking the position, Antoun is returning to the city where he grew up and went to school, before he went on to work at IBM for over 30 years (aside from a brief stint at Bell). Antoun was most recently president of IBM Americas, where he led the companyâs business in Canada, the US, and Latin America.Â
While at IBM, Antoun led advancements in cloud, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and digital modernization, according to OpenText. Antoun will assume his new post on April 20.
Image courtesy LinkedIn
Antoun is claiming the position from interim CEO James McGourlay, who will shift to another role in OpenTextâs executive leadership. McGourlay was executive VP of international sales when he replaced Barrenechea in August, after the company reported stalled revenue growth in its fiscal 2025 earnings. Barrenechea was CEO and CTO of OpenText for 14 years.
Founded in 1991, OpenText provides a suite of cloud-based information management solutions to businesses, competing with the likes of IBM, AbbyyABBYY, and Hyland. The company has adapted over the years to introduce cloud and AI services, including cybersecurity and AI agents.
Following Barrenecheaâs departure, OpenText began exploring the sale of its ânon-core assetsâ to focus on its core business: information management for AI. Earlier this month, OpenText closed the sale of its eDOCS business, which helps legal professionals with document management, for $163 million USD ($227.3 million CAD) in cash.
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Executive chairman P. Thomas Jenkins said in a statement that the OpenText board believes Antoun is the best leader to grow revenue in its core business. David Fraser, co-chair of OpenTextâs CEO search committee, said the committee was impressed by Antounâs experience leading major technology organizations, like IBM, in cloud and digital modernization, as well as his strong relationships in the public and private sectors.
âIt became clear in our conversations with Ayman that he is uniquely positioned to advance the Company’s leadership in enterprise AI during our pivotal phase of growth,” Fraser said.Â
Feature image courtesy Wikimedia Commons under under Creative Commons Attribution 1.0 Generic (CC BY 1.0)