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Nortel Networks Corp. is shaking up its executive ranks slightly more than a year after a similar reorganization last August 2004. In a September 30 news release, the company announced that it would restructure from four to two groups. Steve Slattery will head up the enterprise solutions and packet networks. The mobility and converged core networks division will be headed up by Richard Lowe. In order to improve its customer support and services, Nortel has formed four region-based organizations. Steve Pusey will lead efforts in Eurasia as executive VP and president of the region. Dion Joannou is president of North America, Robert Mao is president and CEO of Greater China; and Martha Bejar is president of the Caribbean, Latin America and emerging markets strategy. Sue Spradley, president of global services and operations, will continue in her current position. Malcolm Collins, president of enterprise networks, will be leaving the company, Nortel announced. Michael Hortie is taking over as president of Motorola Canada Ltd., replacing Frank Maw, who has decided to retire. Hortie, GM of the company for the past two years, has been leading sales, marketing, operations and product management for Motorola’s mobile devices business. Maw has been president of Motorola Canada since 2001. He joined the company’s ultrapage division in 1989 and served as GM of Motorola Canada’s personal communications sector from 1995 to 2002. Mitec Telecom Inc. has made major changes to its executive ranks. Iwan Jemczyk has been names VP engineering. Robert Mitchell has been appointed to lead global sales and business development in the satellite communications segment. On the telecommunications side, Jeff Joseph has taken over responsibility for business development and Rob Harper will lead the global sales team. Beata Klopotowska has been promoted to director of operations in Montreal, and Marc Desjardins has taken over as director of operations-Suzhou. Jean-Marc Roberge, executive VP of global operations will leave the company effective October 14. Sang Mah has been appointed president of the Wireless Innovation Network of British Columbia. She brings more than 15 years in the technology sector to the job, most recently serving as CEO of Credo Interactive, a Vancouver-based interactive media firm. There, Mah helped commercialize in 1997 the company’s flagship product LifeForms which was developed at Simon Fraser University. While at the university, she was research manager for the graphics and multimedia research lab. Cygnal Technologies Corp. has announced that David Horsley, senior VP and CFO, will leave the company effective October 14. He has held the position since September 2003. Michael Conway, a member of the board of directors, will work with Horsley during the two-week transition period and will then assume the interim CFO position beginning on October 14. Sony Ericsson is strengthening its North American management team with two key appointments. Magnus Ahlqvist has been named GM of Sony Ericsson Canada, overseeing the entire Canadian operation. Prior to taking on this role, Ahlqvist worked in the company’s global headquarters in London UK where he gained global sales and marketing experience as a senior manager and then as director of commercial finance for one of Sony Ericsson’s clients. Najmi Jarwala has been appointed president of Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Inc.’s North American region. Prior to joining the company, Jarwala held several positions with AT&T Wireless Services, most recently serving as senior VP, customer equipment, supply chain. "Najmi joins us at a good time. He possesses tremendous operating skills with an intimate working knowledge of a wide range of wireless technology and solutions. His industry experience will be a valuable asset to us in driving the next phase of our growth, and we believe Najmi is a exceptional choice to lead our team in North America," Miles Flint, president of Sony Ericsson, said in a news release. David Newble has been appointed to SAMSys Technologies Inc.’s board of directors. Newble, a chartered accountant, is finance director at BTG plc, a technology development company. He has substantial experience in financial management and financing for both public and private companies. Newble replaces William Davidson, a SAMSys director since November 2000, who has resigned his seat on the board to focus his time on a new RFID company, RFID Resolution Team. Bill Fraser will retire as CEO of Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. next year, the company has announced. After more than 10 years in the top job at MTS, Fraser has decided to spend more time with his family. During his tenure, he helped transform the provincial incumbent telephone company into the third-largest telco in the country behind only BCE Inc. and TELUS Corp. One of his major accomplishments was the $1.7 billion acquisition of Allstream Inc., which thrust the company onto the national scene. Fraser originally joined MTS in 1986 and served as VP of finance before taking over the reins in 1994 when Oz Pedde left the company. " decision to retire next year provides us with ample time to conduct a thorough North American-wide search to identify the best possible candidates for chief executive officer of MTS," Thomas Stefanson, MTS’ chair of the board of directors, said in a news release. TRLabs has appointed Kym Wittal as its new chair of the board of directors, effectively immediately. Wittal is CTO at provincial incumbent telephone company SaskTel where he is responsible for the planning, engineering and operation of the company network and corporate information systems. Prior to this appointment, Wittal held various positions at the telco spanning more than a decade. "The information and communications technology sector is rapidly transforming, and so too are industry R&D needs. From new vertical markets and shorter term project research, to re-design of internal processes that maximize commercialization rates, to multi-disciplinary graduate training, TRLabs is re-engineering itself to continue to be an attractive vehicle for industry to tap for new innovation," Wittal said in a news release. RFID technology developer, Sirit Inc. has appointed two new members to its board of directors. Art Mesher and Cal Haverstock were approved by the board at a meeting on September 28. Mesher is CEO of Descartes Systems Group Inc. Haverstock is president and CEO of Playdium Corp. Fidus has expanded its management team with the addition of three key personnel. Michael Alam has been named business manager in Ottawa. He began his career with Nortel Networks Corp. where he developed chips for metro area networks. Chris Forester has been appointed business manager for the Greater Toronto Area and Southern Ontario. He brings more than 18 years experience in electronics design having worked at Lattice Semiconductor and PIKA Technologies. Cameron Redmond has been named project manager. He joined the company in 2002. Serge Beaudoin has been appointed president and COO of Mediatrix Telecom Inc. and M5T, effective immediately. He also becomes first VP and COO of Media5 Corp. During his career at Mediatrix and M5T, he served as VP of research and development. He was instrumental in establishing the Voice over IP hardware and software development team for both companies. TigerTel Communications Inc. has announced that Timothy MacDonald was elected as chair of the board of directors at a meeting of the board last month. He has been a director of the company since May 2003. "Mr. MacDonald’s experience, business acumen and acknowledged integrity in the business community will be a great benefit in his role as chairman...of TigerTel shareholders," reads a news release.

ROW People

News | October 5, 2005

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