Bunszel

After 28 years at Autodesk, including the last six as senior vice president and general manager of Autodesk Construction Solutions, Jim Lynch has said he will retire from the architecture, engineering and construction software provider effective April 1 and hand the reins of the group to executive vice president of AEC Solutions, Amy Bunszel.

The company’s construction products, such as Autodesk Construction Cloud, will be back under the management of one person, rather than spread across divisions. Bunszel has previously led the development of major Autodesk design tools such as Revit, AutoCAD and the Forma cloud design platform.

Commenting on Lynch's leadership, Andrew Anagnost, president and CEO of Autodesk, said in a press statement, "From his early contributions establishing Revit as a core part of AEC to his leadership in building out our construction business, he’s shaped Autodesk’s success."

Additionally, Anagnost commented, “Amy Bunszel has deep expertise across the AEC industry and is a natural fit to lead the Autodesk Construction business forward.”

In a discussion about the changes he’s seen in the industry over his long tenure, Lynch said he believes it’s the right time for construction and design to be handled under the same roof at the software giant.

“Contractors have really matured in terms of their interest and adoption of digital technology,” he said, noting there is still more to do. “We’ve scratched the surface, but they get it. They understand that to maximize, to make the most out of technology to drive better outcomes, in terms of predictability, in terms of safety and sustainability, they understand the need to modify some of their processes and how they receive information, and how they deal with that information, and how they collaborate.”

Lynch

Lynch said that he does not plan to leave the AEC software space entirely after April 1.

“I’m going to continue to be engaged,” he says. “I plan to do some consulting, have one gig lined up already. I’m probably going to be signing up for three or four [corporate] boards for construction technology startups. I plan to stay close to the industry and to the leaders in it. I believe I can help the industry continue to move forward.”

Autodesk Lays Off 9% of Workforce

Autodesk said Feb. 26 that it will cut 1,350 employees worldwide, about 9% of its workforce. The announcement came when the company announced its first quarterly earnings.

"This decision was made by myself and CEO staff and is not the result of any third-party pressure," Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost said in a statement. "We long understood the need to drive more efficiency and focus following implementation of the new buying experience and we were always going to act on that need independently."

Anagnost also said the cuts are a result of transforming Autodesk's business from simply selling software subscriptions to  "self-service enablement, the adoption of direct billing and more," and to using artificial intelligence in more customer-facing functions.

"Our investments in cloud, platform, and AI are ahead of our peers and enable Autodesk to provide more valuable and connected solutions that support a much broader customer and developer ecosystem," he said in the statement. "To maintain and extend this leadership, we are shifting resources across our go-to-market platform, Industry, and corporate functions to accelerate investments in these strategic priorities."

Most of the job cuts, initially, appear to be focused in Autodesk's marketing, sales and customer support divisions.