WILSONVILLE, OR -- Mentor Graphics' board will have a new look going forward as shareholders elected three outsiders to help oversee the EDA software company.

The three new directors were nominated by Carl Icahn, the activist investor who holds nearly 15% of the software company's stock. For the past several months, Icahn has engaged in a war of words with the company over its direction and spending.

Icahn, who with fellow shareholder Casablanca Capital controlled about 21% of Mentor's stock, managed to place his three nominees on the eight-member board despite an adamant PR campaign by Mentor to maintain its status quo.

Following yesterday's vote, both sides said they would work together. "It's just like a political election," said Mentor chief executive Wally Rhines, according to published reports. "Any arguing is over. Now we have a board that has a common objective to grow shareholder value."

The new directors, Jose Maria Alapont, Gary Meyers and David Schechter, primarily have backgrounds outside the printed circuit board and semiconductor software industry. Alapont is an automotive executive, Meyers an industry analyst and former CEO of Synplicity, and Schechter is a portfolio manager for Icahn. Of them, only Meyers has direct CAD software experience, although Alapont's background in automotive could potentially help Mentor, which sees it as a growth industry.

While Icahn has insisted Mentor's sales and marketing expenses have been higher than the company's peer group, to the detriment of profits and shareholder value, what is less clear is how quickly his newly installed acolytes will seek to force changes or hew to the company's current strategy. After two years of steep losses, Mentor turned the corner in the December quarter, with record revenues and strong profits, and is forecasting continued growth in the March period.

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