SCDigest Editorial Staff

Perhaps faster than expected, some notable analysts from AMR Research have already left the fold after the company announced in December it was being acquired by rival Gartner. (See Gartner to Acquire AMR Research, as Supply Chain Industry’s Largest Two Analyst Firms Combine.)

In December, Lora Cecere, a well known analyst at AMR who recently had been focused on the consumer goods industry supply chain, told SCDigest she was leaving AMR prior to the deal closing. Her future plans are not clear at this time. Cecere had earlier been at Gartner before leaving for Descartes Systems Group and subsequently AMR.

There was speculation that employment contracts would hold top AMR analysts and executives at Gartner for awhile, but that has proven not to be the case, as Infor, a provider of enterprise and supply chain software solutions, announced yesterday that AMR's Bruce Richardson would join the company as Chief Strategy Officer.

Richardson had been Chief Research Officer at AMR and perhaps its most well-known executive, especially renowned for his unique and often humourous conference presentations, which invariably seemed to drag in the Boston Red Sox into whatever the supply chain subject was.

“Throughout the last two decades, there is no individual who has more closely followed every significant business software company in the world than Bruce Richardson. His joining our world-class team is a significant endorsement,” said Jim Schaper, Infor chairman and chief executive officer . “Bruce is also one of the best trend-spotters in the business and will play a key role as we continue building our business through organic and acquisitive growth.”

Infor is headquartered in Atlanta.

Gartner, for its part, has stayed fairly silent on its plans for AMR. We will keep you posted.