Statement on the Passing of Founder Paul Barber

On May 2, Prophix lost our wonderful founder and Executive Chairman, Paul Barber. Paul bravely battled cancer for more than a year and was surrounded at the end by his wife Carol, his children Adrian and Thea, and his four loving grandchildren.

Paul graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1974 as a math major – a period before the university even offered computer science coursework. Paul’s education in the software industry came in his role as founder and CEO of Prophix. He launched Prophix in 1987 as a software distributor before pivoting the company’s focus in later years to building innovative Corporate Performance Management (CPM) software for midmarket organizations.

Paul led Prophix through more than 30 years of rapid growth and international expansion before passing the CEO reins to Alok Ajmera in 2020. Over those three decades, Paul transformed Prophix into an industry-leading CPM solution that empowers financial professionals to take a more strategic and proactive approach to budgeting and planning.

Paul was a visionary in creating and establishing the CPM software category. He took a fiercely independent route to growing Prophix for most of the company’s history — despite continuous interest from potential investors — until Prophix’s 2021 equity investment from Hg, which positioned the company to capitalize on the rapidly growing adoption of the CPM software that Paul pioneered.

Paul was more than just an inspirational leader to Prophix. He cared deeply for the wellbeing of every single Prophix employee. Paul was also passionate about giving back to the community and built this philanthropic mindset into Prophix’s corporate DNA. This tradition of giving has continued nearly 30 years later with Prophix’s CSR program, which is dedicated to creating a lasting impact on the global community through financial support of meaningful programs and projects. The Prophix CSR program has contributed to a range of worthy charitable organizations over the past 30 years, including a $50,000 quarterly donation to a non-profit organization selected by employee consensus.

Paul’s legacy will live on with his family and with Prophix. While today our hearts are broken, tomorrow and each day moving forward we will be inspired by Paul’s example to continue building Prophix into the global technology leader he envisioned. Thank you for everything, Paul, and rest in peace.