Fountain Valley’s CAM Data Names President, Tells Layoff

FOUNTAIN VALLEY —  CAM Data Systems Inc., a supplier of computer systems for small retailers, Friday announced the appointment of a new president and a cost-cutting program to reduce the company’s work force to about 55 people.

Carl Smith, a former sales executive with MAI Basic Four Inc., was named president and chief executive of the company. In an unusual role reversal, Geoff Knapp, the firm’s founder and former president and CEO, will become vice president for sales and marketing while retaining the post of chairman.

CAM Data, which lost $346,000 on revenue of $815,000 for the quarter ended Dec. 31, has also shut sales offices in Virginia and Colorado and reduced costs at other locations, Smith said, resulting in the layoff of four or five people.

Smith said the company is not abandoning its markets outside of California but needs to “bring the business back in balance with an operating plan that can be supported by the level of sales.”

He said the company, which went public in 1987, should be “close to break-even” by the end of the year.