The managing director of Oracle Corporation"s Australian arm, Leigh Warren, has quit the company less than a week before the vendor"s U.S.-based president Charles Phillips visits Australia.

Warren"s departure is the second change of command to Oracle"s Australian executive in less than a year, with previous Australian and New Zealand MD Brian Mitchell sent north to Asia to "lead merger and acquisition activity and integration across the Asia-Pacific" in September 2004.

According to an Oracle statement, Warren is leaving for personal reasons, with the vendor"s public relations agency stressing such reasons were genuine and ruling out any new management spill before the arrival of Phillips.

Warren will be replaced by Ian White, Oracle"s long-term Western Australian sales warrior who recently inked a 10- year, $67 million shared services agreement for Oracle"s 10g database and 11i financials and e-business suite with the Western Australian government. White will report to Keith Budge, senior vice president, Oracle Asia Pacific.

According to Oracle, White is "particularly keen" to fight for market share in the applications server space in an effort to broaden the vendor"s appeal away from traditional database and financials modules.

On the ERP front, Oracle president Charles Phillips is expected to showcase some newly acquired and integrated JD Edwards customers, which the company has been placating with a charm offensive after recent Oracle acquisition PeopleSoft"s failed attempt to forcibly merge user groups among its new customers.

Australia appears to have become favorite destination for Oracle"s top brass, with chairman Jeff Henley having paid a personal visited in February when he promised PeopleSoft customers the company will maintain both PeopleSoft and JD Edwards until 2013.

Oracle will report its next financial results on June 29, 2005.