SYDNEY – Altium has appointed Martin Harris the head of global field operations.

He was previously CEO for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

With this move, all of Altium’s field offices now report to him.

This follows Altium’s release of AltiumLive and the new version of Altium Designer in March.

WILSONVILLE, OR – Following Mentor Graphics’ annual meeting here today, activist investor Carl Icahn is likely to win two seats on the EDA company’s board of directors, according to published reports.

Icahn is Mentor’s largest shareholder, with 14.7% of the printed circuit board and semiconductor software company’s stock. He made a $1.73 billion stalking horse for the company in February, a deal Mentor’s board rejected as too low. Icahn traditionally has opted to break up or sell companies he has gained control over, a fate Mentor is trying to avoid.

In March, Icahn nominated three candidates for the firm’s eight-person board, saying in repeated public letters and forums that the current board is entrenched and its performance compares poorly to its peer group, including Synopsys and Cadence.

Mentor has strongly asserted that the company is on the right track after two years of losses and that Icahn’s nominees are unqualified to oversee the CAD tool developer.