Manugistics hires new CEO

Manugistics Group Inc., which sells supply chain management solutions to government agencies, named Joe Cowan its chief executive officer. The company's previous CEO, Gregory Owens, will remain as chairman.

Cowan joins Rockville, Md.-based Manugistics from EXE Technologies Inc., a subsidiary of SSA Global Technologies Inc., Chicago, which develops enterprise resource planning software.

Manugistics' government customers include the Defense and Energy departments. Its integrator customers include Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin Corp., Northrop Grumman Corp. and Raytheon Co.

In March, Manugistics became the second company to join the General Services Administration's SmartBuy program (click for Washington Technology story).

Last month, the company announced its first quarter fiscal 2005 revenue was down 21 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago. It posted a quarterly net loss of $4.9 million.