Mary Yang named senior vice president and chief strategy officer at Ciena
Ciena (NYSE: CIEN) has brought aboard Mary Yang as senior vice president and chief strategy officer. Yang will become responsible for driving Ciena’s corporate strategy and executing corporate development activities, including mergers and acquisitions (M&A). She also will provide an interface between Ciena’s engineering and product development teams, sales and marketing organization, and Chief Technology Office. Yang replaces the late James Frodsham, who passed away June 23, 2019.
Yang comes to Ciena from NIO, which designs and develops electric vehicles. She previously held senior leadership roles in strategy and corporate development at such communications companies as Fortinet, Cisco, and Nortel. Overall, Yang has more than 25 years of experience in technology and has been focused on advising companies on strategic investments, alliance opportunities, and global M&A activity, says Ciena.
Yang will report to Gary B. Smith, Ciena’s president and CEO. “Mary brings an exceptional combination of business acumen and strategic insights in the technology arena, specifically around driving leading-edge innovation and new technologies to market. Through deep analysis of market trends and industry dynamics, Mary will help accelerate Ciena’s strategy and further solidify our industry leadership position in delivering solutions that address the world’s connectivity needs,” said Smith.
"Ciena is a pioneer in groundbreaking technology and constantly redefines the limits of the industry in ways that change the way the world communicates. With Ciena’s leadership team, I look forward to carving out new opportunities for growth and strengthening our position in shaping the future of network transformation for our customers," Yang commented.
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Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave
Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.
Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.
He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, and more.
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