Forgent names Amy Ard CFO as Ryan Fiedler shifts to a consulting role

Forgent Power Solutions replaced its chief financial officer on October 21, 2026, naming Amy Ard to the job and moving Ryan Fiedler into what the company describes as an external consulting role, according to the Form 8-K filed the next morning. The filing is a leadership disclosure, not a results report: it contains no quarterly revenue, margin or earnings figures. Ard's disclosed contract carries a $550,000 base salary and a cash bonus of as much as 85% of base salary; Fiedler stays on payroll until October 30 and exits with salary and accrued vacation rather than contractual severance, plus unvested incentive units that keep vesting while he advises Neos Partners.

The document behind the change is a Form 8-K filed October 22, 2026, reporting events dated October 21. It is a leadership disclosure under Item 5.02 with a Reg FD exhibit attached, plus a separation agreement filed as an exhibit. It carries no revenue, margin, backlog or earnings figures for any period, and nothing in it restates or previews quarterly results.

Ard's promotion comes with a disclosed pay package

Ard, 52, ran financial planning, reporting, treasury and operational finance as executive vice president of finance since January 2026, and the board appointed her CFO effective October 21. The filing describes terms Forgent "expects to enter into" in an employment agreement: a five-year initial term with automatic annual renewals, a $550,000 annual base salary, and an annual cash bonus of as much as 85% of base salary based on corporate performance goals. At that ceiling the bonus would be $467,500.

Equity is spelled out too. Ard can receive annual grants under the company's 2026 Equity Incentive Plan on the same schedule as other senior executives, and she is due a one-time award with a target grant-date value of $500,000 on November 1, 2026, half in restricted stock units and half in stock options. Because the agreement is still to be signed, the terms are disclosed rather than contractual, a distinction that matters if the final document differs.

Fiedler's exit trades cash severance for continuing equity

The separation agreement pays Fiedler salary earned through October 30, 2026 and a lump sum for accrued, unused vacation, and it stands in place of the severance and benefits in his January 12, 2026 employment agreement. He resigned as CFO on October 21 but remains employed through the separation date to hand over files, account passwords and institutional knowledge.

The money that matters is equity. His unvested incentive units in the three Forgent parent partnerships stay outstanding and vest only while he is engaged by Neos Partners under a senior advisor agreement that begins when his employment ends; aggregate payouts on those units are capped at $9,818,763, the reserve balance attached to them on the effective date. Units that had already vested are canceled on that date. The press release calls the destination an external consulting role without naming the counterparty; the exhibit names Neos Partners, LP, which the agreement treats as a member of the company group.

The handover has two dated checkpoints

October 30 is the operative date: Fiedler must re-execute the separation agreement and deliver the advisor agreement that day, or the equity treatment and payments fall away, though his release of claims up to October 21 survives. Then November 1, when Ard's one-time grant is scheduled to be made.

CEO Gary Niederpruem framed the change as continuity, saying he is "confident she is the right financial leader to guide the Company through its next phase of value creation". Fiedler, credited in the release with helping lead Forgent through its initial public offering and what it calls "a record fiscal 2026", said the finance team is "well equipped to support the Company in its next chapter of growth".

For readers, the practical read is that Forgent swapped a CFO who took it public for one who has run its finance function since January 2026 and has been on the leadership team since the company's founding. What the filing does not do is explain the departure beyond Fiedler's stated wish to spend more time with his family, say whether the advisory work is paid, or indicate how the change affects the fiscal year that started in July. The advisor agreement itself is not filed, and neither is Ard's signed contract.