Prominent technology executive steps down: Wortman resigns from Mezzia after just one year

Details are scant. But after only a year on the job, one of the city’s best-known IT leaders is moving on. Mezzia Inc. CEO David Wortman has resigned.

“It was just time for a change,” Wortman said. “I was with the company for a year, accomplished a lot, and was ready for a change.”

Best known as the longtime CEO of locally based manufacturing softwaremaker Made2Manage Systems, Wortman, 54, led his former company through an initial public offering. But he left M2M after Boston-based Battery Ventures bought it in August 2003 and brought in new management.

Wortman resurfaced last November as Mezzia’s CEO. Mezzia, which makes software that hospitals and other health-care organizations use to manage their capital spending, was once considered among the city’s most promising IT startups.

“Mezzia has an excellent record of helping our nation’s health care systems make significant improvements in their financial performance,” Wortman said in a news release when he came aboard in November 2004.

“As health systems increasingly are challenged to close the ‘capital gap’ that exists between available and needed resources, I believe Mezzia will become the standard way to manage capital spending for improved financial performance.”

Founded in 1999, Mezzia never realized its expected potential after the dotcom bust. At this time last year, the company had 20 employees. It’s not clear how many it now has; Wortman declined to discuss the company.

To date, Mezzia has attracted a total of $12 million in venture capital over three rounds. The most recent came in March 2004, when a syndicate of venture capitalists-including locally based Gazelle Te c h Ve n t u r e s , Chicago-based KB Partners LLC and M i lwa u ke e – b a s e d Mason Wells Biomedical-invested $2 million.

Under his leadership, Wortman said, Mezzia expanded its sales pipeline and customer base. He said Mezzia also was able to reposition its product as a financial application for chief financial officers.

Wortman still sits on the board of locally based research firm Walker Information and the Cincinnati-based Cohesia, a supply-chain consulting company. Wortman said he plans to stay in Indianapolis.

“I’m continuing my work as a director and adviser to technology companies. We’ll see how the world unfolds,” Wortman said. “I certainly hope and have every intention of staying here. I like the community and I’m looking to be able to continue to contribute to the development of the technology community.”

Mezzia and representatives of three venture capital investors did not respond to IBJ’s repeated requests for comment.