Ashton-Tate Executive VP Resigns Posts

Norman H. Block has resigned as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Ashton-Tate, the Torrance software developer that ranks as the third-largest in the country.

Block, 46, joined the company in 1983. He explained that he felt best suited to roles in which he could “help medium-size companies grow” and that Ashton-Tate has grown beyond those bounds. He said he is considering a couple of options for his next position, but declined to elaborate except to say that he would not join a competing firm.

Block was praised by Edward M. Esber Jr., Ashton-Tate’s chairman and chief executive, who said: “Norm was instrumental in helping Ashton-Tate achieve the level of success we have today.” And Block on Tuesday described the departure as “about the friendliest leave you could imagine.”

Block is the second high-ranking executive to leave Ashton-Tate since October, when the company hired Luther Nussbaum as its new president and chief operating officer. Ronald S. Posner, a former executive vice president, left the company to become chief executive of Ansa Software in Belmont, Calif.