Bottomline names new CEO

Portsmouth-based Bottomline Technologies announced Friday that it will hire Rob Eberle as its new chief executive officer, replacing Joe Mullen in November.

Mullen will go on to chair the board of directors in May, and Peter Fortune, who headed the company’s European operations, will take Eberle’s place as chief operating officer in November.

Mullen said that this was a “planned transition” in order to better “execute on the next phase of our corporate growth plan.” The company did not elaborate.

Mullen has worked at the company from its start, serving as its first salesman in 1989. In 2000, he was named a director and in 2001 became CEO. He previously worked at IBM.

Eberle, who joined Bottomline in 1998, was influential in taking Bottomline public, introducing the company into new geographic markets and serving large enterprise customers.

Fortune headed Bottomline’s European operations since 2000 and was the company’s chief marketing officer since 2005. – BOB SANDERS