Cognos Names New Chief Executive Officer and New Chairman.

OTTAWA, Canada--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 28, 1995--The Board of Directors of Cognos announced today that Ron Zambonini has been named Chief Executive Officer of the corporation in addition to his current position of President.

Steve Scotchmer, a member of the Board and Chairman of the CEO Selection Committee, said: "Over the past three months the Committee has conducted an extensive external search both in the United States and Canada and has unanimously concluded that the best qualified candidate is Ron. This decision is in recognition of the outstanding job Ron has done as Chief Operating Officer over the past 2 1/2 years and ensures continuity of the management team that has served us very well in this period."

The Company also announced that Jim Tory, who has been a Director of Cognos since 1982, has accepted the position of non-executive Chairman. Additionally, the Company indicated that it has created a new role of Vice-Chairman and Steve Scotchmer has been named to this position.

Mike Potter announced last June his intention to step down as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer as soon as a replacement was named. Today Mike said: "Ron has done a superb job, particularly in driving fantastic growth in our PowerPlay and Impromptu products following their formative years in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and managing the mature PowerHouse business very profitably. As well, his vision and personal commitment to Axiant offers this company the opportunity to enter an important new product cycle based on next generation client/server development tools. He has earned this promotion."

The Board of Directors expresses its gratitude and appreciation for Mike Potter's career-long contributions to high technology in Canada and for his 23 years of committed leadership and vision in building Cognos into a world class software company. "The culture and values held by Cognos will bear the mark of Mike Potter for years to come and we, as a Board, will continue to look to Mike for advice and insight as an involved director and our largest shareholder," said Jim Tory.

Cognos develops, markets and supports -- both directly and through resellers worldwide -- advanced client/server application development and reporting tools on a wide range of open and proprietary platforms, including UNIX and Microsoft Windows. Cognos is a publicly held company with dual headquarters in Ottawa, Canada and Burlington, MA. Cognos' World Wide Web address is http://www.cognos.com.

CONTACT: Cognos

Roberta J. Carlton, 617/229-6600