LCC International Inc. last week made two moves that appear to be pointing toward an increasing importance of international markets to its radio frequency engineering and network implementation services and products business.
The company appointed Geoffrey Carroll president and chief executive officer of the company to replace Piyush Sodha, who resigned earlier this month. Carroll said one of the primary reasons LCC was interested in him was his strong international background.
Most recently based in Brussels, Carroll was CEO of Origin B.V., the information technology services subsidiary of Philips N.V., one of Europe’s largest electronics manufacturers. Carroll will be relocating to the United States.
The company also announced the official opening of its regional service center for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. LCC said it decided to combine its European, Middle Eastern and African activities in order to improve its focus on regional markets and expand local service through decentralized sales and support activities.
Located in Skarer, Norway, LCC Europe AS will serve as the regional sales and support center for all of LCC’s system and product offerings, said the company. LCC Europe AS will replace LCC Europe GmbH as the region’s headquarters for systems and product support, although LCC Europe GmbH will continue to serve as a secondary support center for the company’s products already deployed in the region.
News of Sodha’s resignation on Jan. 8 and uncertainty about who would lead the company sent LCC’s stock into a dive, which was compounded by worries on Wall Street over the Asian economy. Carroll said he had been in negotiations with LCC well before the announcement of Sodha’s resignation, and the stock dive was due to “unfortunate timing.”
While at Origin, Carroll was responsible for the integration and merger of Philips Communications & Processing with BSO/Origin, creating one of the 10 largest IT services companies in the world with revenues in excess of $2 billion. Prior to that, he spent six years with Electronic Data Systems where he held several high-level positions and was a pioneer in outsourcing.
Carroll said his IT work with Origin B.V. and EDS positions him well to handle the challenges of the wireless telecommunications industry. Today’s wireless industry and the IT industry of the late ’80s have several parallels, he said.
Sodha resigned from LCC to join a start-up company called Global Crossing International. Tricia Drennan, director of corporate communications, said Sodha’s passion is for launching new companies into the public marketplace and then turning them over to people with a background in growing a company’s market capitalization.
Sodha is working with Carroll during the transition period, Drennan said.
