Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Tax software firm Copanion names new CFO

By Mass High Tech Staff

Copanion Inc., a maker of tax documentation software, has announced the addition of Stephen Royal as chief financial officer of the company. Royal brings 25 years of financial experience to the position, Copanion officials said.

Royal worked previously as senior vice president and CFO of OATSystems Inc., an RFID software developer that was bought by Checkpoint Systems Inc. He also served as CFO for the Cisco Systems Inc.-acquired CXO Systems Inc.; CFO for the Paradyne Networks-acquired Net to Net Technologies Inc.; and CFO of Engage Inc.

Andover-based Copanion develops GruntWorx software, which relies on biometrics to “identify information in scanned and electronic docments,” the company said. The software products are used by more than 2000 tax professionals. Development of Copanion’s GruntWorx was funded by $6 million in a first venture capital round last spring from investors including Boston’s Pilot House Venture Group LLC and Waltham’s Commonwealth Capital.

Copanion officials announced recent alliances with tax software companies Intuit Inc. and Thomson Reuters.

Last month, company CEO Steven Ladd said he is planning a 100-fold increase in business and a 20 percent-plus increase in staff over the next year.