Aug. 19–Gary Greenfield, who took over as Peregrine Systems’ chief executive amid a financial scandal last year, was replaced yesterday by John Mutch, a Peregrine board member and former CEO at HNCSoftware.

The change was one more sign that a new crew has taken control of the San Diego software developer, which emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy Aug. 7.

“I think the new slate, the new board of directors, viewed the emergence from bankruptcy as a natural inflection point for a new chief executive,” said Mutch, 47.

The company also said yesterday that James Jenkins, a hedge fund manager at Mellon HVB, has been elected board chairman.

“You’ve got people at the helm now who are committed to the long-term value of the company and are not intimidated by the debt,” said Michael Willoughby, an economics professor at the University of California San Diego.

Mutch is known primarily as a software industry marketing executive. He left HNC Software last year, after Fair Isaac acquired the San Diego company in a stock deal valued at roughly $600 million. He had been named as HNC’s chief executive in January 2000, three years after joining the company, which specializes in software used to analyze fraudulent credit card transactions.

“He’s very, very bright,” said Scott McClendon, chairman of San Diego-based Overland Storage, where Mutch was named as a director this year. “He’s very capable, but in a broad way.”

Greenfield said last month that he hoped to stay on at Peregrine, even though he was commuting to San Diego from his home in Maryland. He said he is leaving on good terms and has agreed to assist his successor over the next few months.

Greenfield acknowledged yesterday that Peregrine’s chief technology officer, Fred Luddy, recently resigned but also agreed to stay with the company for a few months. Another key Peregrine executive, general counsel Kathy Vizas, remains at the company, a spokeswoman said.

Peregrine chief financial officer Ken Sexton has committed to remain with the company “and see us through” the filing of delayed financial statements, Mutch said. After that project is completed, and the company’s shares are relisted with the Nasdaq exchange, Mutch said Sexton’s role will be reassessed.

Mutch said his priorities are getting the company’s shares qualified for Nasdaq and completing its financial statements for the fiscal year ended March 31 and the quarter ended June 30.

Greenfield, Sexton and Vizas joined Peregrine in June 2002, weeks after an accounting scandal ignited a corporate crisis at the company. In the ensuing cascade of bad news, Peregrine shares were delisted and federal authorities launched an investigation of the company.

Since then, three former Peregrine officials have pleaded guilty to fraud charges in the criminal probe, which is continuing.

Greenfield had been applauded in recent weeks for his role in Peregrine’s bankruptcy turnaround.

“He definitely did an admirable job in pulling Peregrine out of Chapter 11,” said Patricia Adams, a software industry analyst for Gartner, the market research firm based in Stamford, Conn.

But Greenfield, who had served on Peregrine’s board for the past year, was not included when the company identified its new seven-member board of directors less than two weeks ago.

Bondholders who made up Peregrine’s biggest group of creditors got a four-seat majority on the board, and the official shareholders committee named the other three.

Mutch was the only holdover from Peregrine’s previous board, which itself was created only five months earlier as part of a compromise that ousted San Diego Padres owner John Moores and three other directors.

Greenfield’s tenure at Peregrine may have been weakened by his connections with Moores, a longtime board chairman who has drawn investors’ ire for his insider sales of Peregrine stock.

In a hearing last November, Greenfield said he received a $100,000 a year retainer from JMI Equity, the San Diego investment firm established by Moores.

Greenfield said yesterday, however, that he ended his relationship with JMI several months ago.

–Dow Jones News Service contributed to this report.

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