Reynolds Chairman Holmes to retire in January

David R. Holmes, chairman of Reynolds & Reynolds Co. since 1990, will retire Jan. 1, 2002. He is 60 years old.

Mr. Holmes served as president and CEO of the Dayton, OH-based company from 1989 until May 1999, when Lloyd “Buzz” Waterhouse joined the company as president. Last November, Mr. Waterhouse was elected CEO.

“I’m very proud of the accomplishments of the Reynolds management team,” says Mr. Holmes. “It’s a fast-moving group with immense skill, market knowledge and customer focus. It’s a cohesive group of people who work well together and are passionate about growing the company and the value we create for our customers and shareholders. I’ve never been more confident in the future of the company.”

Mr. Holmes, who joined Reynolds in 1984 as senior vice president of automotive systems, will remain a member of the company’s board of directors for the remainder of his term, which expires February 2002.

He was promoted to president of the automotive systems group in 1986 and led the largest product development blitz in Reynolds' history. Among the products brought to market on his watch was the ERA in-house computer system.

During his 11 years as top executive, Reynolds achieved 25 consecutive quarters of net income growth. Revenues grew from under $600 million to nearly $1.6 billion. The company’s market value grew from under $140 million to over $2 billion today.