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Nortel Networks Corp. has made major changes to its board of directors, following the company’s filing of restated 2003 revenue figures on January 11. Out are: chair Red Wilson as well as Yves Fortier, Sherwood Smith, Guylaine Saucier and the Hon. James Blanchard. Richard McCormick, former chair and CEO of US WEST, and Harry Pearce, retired chair of Hughes Electronics vice-chair of General Motors, have been appointed to the board. John McNaughton, outgoing president and CEO of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board will stand for election to the board at Nortel’s AGM this year. Dan Fortin has been tapped to run IBM Canada Ltd., replacing Ed Kilroy who resigned earlier this month to become CEO of Symcor Inc. Fortin has been working with the company since he graduated from Carleton University in 1978. During his career at IBM, he has held a number of sales, marketing and management positions with the company, overseeing divisions in Canada, the United States and Latin America. Most recently, he has focused on expanding the company’s computer and Internet-based business with small- and medium-sized companies throughout the Americas. Sierra Wireless Inc. has made two additions to its senior management team. The Vancouver-based company has promoted Dan Schieler to the position of VP worldwide sales, while Trent Punnett joins the company as VP marketing. Schieler will be responsible for all aspects of sales, while Punnet will be tasked with global marketing strategy. Prior to joining Sierra Wireless, Schieler was VP of worldwide sales and marketing for AirPrime. Punnett joins the company from Motorola, where he held senior positions in marketing, business development and sales over a period of 14 years. He worked for a number of divisions responsible for wireless data, cellular infrastructure, Voice over IP, Wi-Fi and cable and DSL technologies. AirIQ Inc. has appointed Kenneth Wiesner as COO as part of a corporate reorganization to optimize synergies among three recently acquired companies. Wiesner was previously president and CEO of Aircept, a company Air IQ purchased last year. “Our reorganization plan with Ken’s appointment is the next natural step of integration after the acquisitions of Aircept and Boatracs in 2004,” AirIQ president and CEO Don Simmonds said in a news release. See news brief on page 3 for more information on the corporate reorganization. Tira Wireless has bolstered its executive management and board of directors. The Toronto-based company has appointed Tom Colby as senior VP of sales and business development and Gwyn Fisher as senior VP of product development. As well, Doug Barre, the former COO at Borland, has been added to Tira Wireless’ board of directors. Colby will be responsible for taking the company’s sales and business development efforts to the global market. He brings more than 25 years of sales and business development experience to the table having worked at Lawson Software, Computer Associates and SAP. Fisher, with more than 15 years experience in technology development at Fulcrum, LumaPath and others, is charged with technology delivery and product development. Company president and CEO Paul Schaut said the additions strengthen the management team and positions the company for greater growth and global expansion. Val O’Donovan, chair of the board of directors of COM DEV International Ltd. and founder of the company, has retired. More than 30 years ago, he founded COM DEV in Montreal and helped grow it into a globally recognized leader in the satellite and wireless communications industry. International Datacasting Corp. has announced that Dennis Billard has joined the company as VP sales and marketing. Billard brings more than 25 years in sales and marketing experience to the table, having most recently worked as VP business development at Telesat Canada. “With the addition of Dennis Billard to our senior management team we are taking an important step towards aggressively expanding our marketing and sales influence around the world,” company president and CEO Ron Clifton said in a news release. Battery & Wireless Solutions Inc. has appointed Robert Murray to the board of directors, bringing more than 20 years experience to the table. He currently owns and operates a human resources consulting business in Vancouver. Michael Bartlett has been named non-executive vice-chair of the board. Mike Tymo and Brad Moynes have agreed to provide investor relations advice and communications. Ottawa-based ZIM Corp. announced that the company’s CTO and VP engineering Tony Davidson resigned his position effective December 29. The move became necessary following the company’s decision to integrate those positions with others. Plaintree Systems Inc. has appointed Christopher Skarica to its advisory board. Skarica was most recently the chief technology advisor of Nortel Networks Corp.’s global cable multi system operator (MSO) team. He has spent the past five years working at Nortel’s research and development facility in Ottawa. While at Nortel, Skarica played a key role in the first MSO market trial for Plaintree’s free space optics product. Daniel Lafreniere has been named manager of radio spectrum at the Railway Association of Canada, succeeding Jacques Darrah, who recently retired. Lafreniere has more than 15 years experience in government and the private sector. Federal Communications Commission chair Michael Powell has announced his resignation, effective this March, after four years at the helm of the regulator. Former U.S. president Bill Clinton appointed Powell as a commissioner of the FCC seven years ago, and then was named FCC chair by president George W. Bush three years later. Powell suffered several defeats while chair including a failed attempt to relax ownership restrictions of television and radio stations. He did, however, bring forward a plan to reduce interference with public safety wireless communications, transition to DTV and promote greater reach of broadband connectivity. Mike Zafirovski has resigned as president and COO of Motorola Inc. Zafirovski will remain with the company in an advisory role to help with the transition. A corporate reorganization at Motorola has also lead to some new faces. Adrian Nemcek will lead the networks division; government and enterprise will be led by Greg Brown; Dan Moloney will head up the connected home division; and the personal devices division will be led by Ron Garriques.

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News | January 26, 2005

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