CenturyLink unveils senior leadership team ahead of Level 3 closing

Anticipating that its planned acquisition of Level 3 Communications (NYSE: LVLT) will close as expected in the third quarter of this year, CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE: CTL) has revealed the post-buy executive roster that will report to CEO and President Glen F. Post III.

CenturyLink announced last October its intention to acquire Level 3 for $34 billion in cash and stock (see "CenturyLink will buy Level 3 for $34 billion"). With shareholders of both companies as well as several states having approved or cleared the deal, the company believes it is safe to reveal the management organization that will oversee the assimilation of the new assets and management of the combined companies' operations. That team includes:

• Clay Bailey, senior vice president, transformation, will lead the integration of the two companies as well as automation and "simplification" within the combined company.
• Dean Douglas, executive vice president, North America enterprise, will hold responsibility for sales, revenue generation, and enterprise service delivery in North American, as well as exercise responsibility for the company's national/business technicians.
• Gary Gauba, senior vice president, chief relationship officer, will be charged with building what CenturyLink described as "strong, trust-based relationships" with its top customers' C-suite executives; he also will continue to lead the advanced solutions group.
• Stacey Goff, executive vice president, general counsel and chief administrative officer, will lead legal, corporate strategy, business development, and mergers and acquisitions activities.
• Aamir Hussain, executive vice president, chief technology officer, and network operations, who lead product development, platforms, and infrastructure and information technology.
• Maxine Moreau, executive vice president, consumer, will be responsible for sales, marketing, and service delivery for local market consumer operations in 37 states, including field technicians.
• Laurinda Pang, executive vice president, global accounts management and international, will be in charge of sales, revenue generation, and enterprise service delivery for the company's top global accounts and for the APAC, EMEA, and LATAM markets.
• Sunit Patel, executive vice president, chief financial officer, will be responsible for the company's domestic and international finance and accounting functions.
• Scott Trezise, executive vice president, human resources, will lead domestic and international human resources functions.
• Girish Varma, executive vice president, IT and managed services, will head technology/strategic consulting, big data, managed security services, and managed hosting.

Patel and Pang currently are Level 3 employees, the former as executive vice president and CFO, the latter as regional president for North America and Asia-Pacific. Post also plans to name an executive vice president, chief marketing officer at some point in the future.

"We have assembled an incredibly talented and experienced executive team that is well positioned to lead the combined company and drive our increased enterprise focus," Post said. "With the assets we will have as a result of this strategic combination and with this leadership team in place at closing, we believe we will be positioned to deliver strong performance not only in the United States, but also in our expanded markets globally."

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