BEA today announced that William T. Coleman III has stepped down from its board of directors.

In an official announcement released today from the San Jose headquarters of the company, BEA's current chairman and CEO, Alfred Chuang, paid the following tribute to his co-founder and predecessor as CEO, as follows:

"Bill's vision and dedication as a founder and his significant contributions represent a key part of the foundation upon which BEA was built. His knowledge and experience provided us with sound counsel and guidance, and our stockholders, employees and customers all appreciated his loyal service to BEA. We thank him for his years of service and wish him every success in his future endeavors."

In turn Coleman, who is now CEO of Cassatt Corporation, open systems company built on open standards and architectures, added:

"BEA has accomplished a great deal in the last ten years. It has been an honor and a privilege to have been a part of the company as it has grown into the visionary leader that it is today. It is now necessary for me to move on to focus on my duties as CEO of Cassatt Corporation. Alfred and the BEA management team have a clear and exciting vision for the future of BEA. I am proud of what we have built and feel privileged to have been part of the team."

The announcement concluded:

"Mr. Coleman is currently chairman and CEO of Cassatt Corporation, a technology start-up he founded in 2003. Mr. Coleman was a co-founder of BEA and served as its CEO from BEA's inception in 1995 to 2001. He also served as chairman of BEA's board of directors from BEA's inception until August 2002. His other leadership roles included serving as BEA's chief customer advocate and its chief strategy officer."