Symphony Technology Group (STG) announced today that it has completed its acquisition of MSC Software for a grand total of $390 million and that Dominic Gallello will be taking over as CEO.

According to the press release, STG "will build a stronger company, leveraging MSC’s outstanding reputation, longstanding customer relationships, leading technology, and talented team. … STG’s outstanding track record of working with companies to improve their execution and innovation will help MSC truly succeed as a leader in simulation software for manufactured products."

Mr. Gallello has a long career in the engineering software world with notable stops at Intergraph and Autodesk and, most recently, Graphisoft. At Intergraph he was responsible for sales in China and Japan as the company was trying to grow its software business. At Autodesk Mr. Gallello led sales in Asia/Pacific, established the Mechanical (CAD/CAM) Division at what was then a primarily AEC-focused company and finally served as EVP for all design and engineering products. After stops at Autodesk spin-off Redspark and Macromedia, Mr. Gallello joined Graphisoft. He was with Graphisoft from 2003 to early 2009; while there, he restored Graphisoft to profitable growth that ultimately led to the acquisition of Graphisoft by German AEC powerhouse Nemetschek AG. Mr. Gallello is also on the board of directors at ThalesNano, a leader in bench-top flow chemistry reactors, and Blue Martini, a CRM vendor.

Joining Mr. Gallello in the MSC executive suite is incoming CFO Jim Johnson.

MSC had made a great deal of progress under interim CEO Ashfaq Munshi who energized employees, made it a priority to listen to customers and embarked on plans to realign the company’s products. While nothing has been said publicly about Mr. Gallello’s plans for the company, in his prior positions he built profitable, growth-oriented, solutions-based software businesses. Good news for the new owners and, one hopes, for employees and customers.