OTTAWA, ON, August 20, 2001—Cognos^® (Nasdaq:COGN; TSE:CSN), the leading provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions, today announced that Tom Manley has joined the company as senior vice president, finance and administration and chief financial officer. Mr. Manley's responsibilities include leadership of Cognos worldwide finance, administration and logistics, and information services organizations.

Mr. Manley comes to Cognos with more than 18 years of experience as a financial professional in the high technology industry. Prior to joining Cognos, Mr. Manley held several senior financial positions at Nortel Networks, most recently serving as chief financial officer at the company's High Performance Optical Component Solutions business unit. During his tenure at Nortel, Mr. Manley's responsibilities included leadership of the global Nortel finance operations, as well as the acquisition and integration of more than a dozen companies.

"We are delighted to have a financial executive with Tom's experience and expertise on board at a time when the value proposition for business intelligence is stronger than ever," said Rob Ashe, Cognos chief corporate officer. "Tom's rich understanding of operational finance issues and proven leadership abilities will play an important role in helping Cognos strengthen our leadership position in the BI market and capitalize on the opportunities that lie ahead."

Mr. Manley's previous responsibilities at Nortel include senior vice president, finance, vice president, finance for Nortel's high-growth Carrier Packet Solutions division, as well as vice president, finance, of Broadband Networks—a US$4 billion Nortel business unit.