Sierra Wireless
Sierra Wireless Inc.’ board of directors said it is separating the roles of chair and chief executive officer and replacing the lead independent director position with a non-executive chair position. Peter Ciceri, the company’s lead independent director since 2002, has been selected as chair, responsible for the overall leadership and effectiveness of the board and will be the board’s primary liaison with management. David Sutcliffe, the company’s current chair and CEO, will become president and CEO. Sierra Wireless said the changes reflect the evolution of corporate governance best practices. Separately, Sutcliffe announced that he plans to retire at the end of this year. He will continue to serve as a director of the company after his retirement as CEO. The board plans to conduct a comprehensive search process to select the next CEO and has engaged the executive search firm SpencerStuart to assist with this process.
Qualcomm
Qualcomm Inc. appointed Joan Waltman president of the company’s Wireless Business Solutions business-to-business wireless solutions division. She replaces Chris Wolfe, who is retiring. Waltman most recently was senior vice president of engineering, product development and global network services for QWBS.
TIA
The Telecommunications Industry Association’s board of directors elected eight new members at its meeting April 11 in Cambridge, Md. New board members are Michael Thurk, group vice president-enterprise at Avaya; Charlie Fox, general manager of Tyco; Carlos Munoz, chief executive officer of Cam Communications Inc.; and Alexis Scott, executive vice president of Lexcom Telecommunications Co. Assuming unfulfilled seats on the board are Michael Glickman, vice president, U.S. service provider at Cisco; Hilary Mine, senior vice president of Alcatel; Rob Pullen, senior vice president of North America sales at Tellabs; and Dana Rasmussen, senior vice president and general manager of the Next Generation Business Unit at Siemens Carrier Networks. Members at the meeting also approved TIA’s Globalcomm objectives. Globalcomm is the association’s new marketplace and summit scheduled to be held in June 2006 in Chicago.
Alcatel
Alcatel’s board of directors approved a proposal by the company’s chairman and chief executive officer, Serge Tchuruk, to appoint Mike Quigley president and chief operating officer of the company. Quigley will replace Philippe Germond, who recently announced he would retire as president, COO and member of the board. Quigley will supervise the company’s telecom activities in the carrier and enterprise markets. He has served as president of fixed communications activities, CEO of Alcatel USA and president of Alcatel North America and been with the company more than 30 years.
Mforma
Mobile entertainment publisher Mforma shook up its front office, naming former AOL Interactive Services head Jonathan Sacks as its new president and chief operating officer. Sacks’ resume includes stints as president of the Hub, a joint venture between AOL and New Line Cinema; and at IDG Books Worldwide, where he helped develop the “Dummies” series of how-to books. He replaces John Brimacombe, who was named chief games strategist.
T-Mobile
T-Mobile International added current T-Mobile USA Inc. Chief Operating Officer Sue Swenson to its management board. Swenson will be responsible for transatlantic synergy programs and development projects, integrated wireless local area network services, roaming offers and terminals. Swenson joins T-Mobile USA Chief Executive Officer Robert Dotson on the board, which T-Mobile International said shows the importance of its U.S. operations. Industry observers have been questioning T-Mobile’s long-term strategy for its U.S. operations following the recent string of consolidation activity among wireless providers in the U.S. market.
