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Samuel Guénette has been appointed GM of M5T, a provider of software for secure, real-time multimedia communications over IP networks. Based in the company’s Montreal headquarters, he will be responsible for driving the management and growth of M5T’s worldwide operations. He will also be in charge of maintaining relationships with the company’s existing customers. Bell Canada announced on October 19 that George Cope will join the company as its president and COO, effective January 2006. Cope will be responsible for Bell’s residential services, which includes wireline, Internet and video businesses. Cope will also be in charge of the company’s enterprise, small and medium business and wholesale units. Formerly president and CEO of Telus Mobility, he was instrumental in orchestrating the wireless new entrant to Telus Mobility for $6.6 billion. Bell has also announced that Stephen Wetmore has been appointed as group president corporate performance and national markets. He will have overall responsibility for improving Bell’s cost structure. Nortel Networks Corp. has poached a former Motorola Inc. executive to lead the company into the future. Mike Zafirovski has been tapped by Nortel’s board of directors to replace Bill Owens as president and CEO, effective November 15. But a couple of days after the announcement was made, Motorola filed a lawsuit against Zafirovski trying to prevent him from jumping ship. The suit alleges that Zafirovski has breached several non-competition agreements he had signed with Motorola. "Despite being paid millions of dollars in cash, stock and stock options in exchange for Zafirovski’s simple agreement not to take a position with a competitor for two years... Zafirovski willfully and deliberately violated the reasonable non-compete agreements," reads a court filing. Some employment experts have said that it is unlikely Zafirovski will lose his job because of the lawsuit. But they note, the result could be that his activities are restricted. Zafirovski, COO at Motorola, is largely credited with turning around the company’s struggling personal communications sector handset business. He also spent 25 years at General Electric where he occupied several senior executive positions. Zafirovski joined Motorola in 2000 after his quarter-of-a century career at GE. Owens will leave Nortel after navigating it through a major accounting scandal, which forced the company to restate a number of earnings reports.

NL People

News | October 26, 2005

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