Infinera Corp. (NASDAQ: INFN) has announced its intention to replace its CEO and chairman of the board by the end of this year. CEO Tom Fallon will step down, to be replaced by current COO David Heard. Board Chairman Kambiz Hooshmand will leave at the same time, with current board member George Riedel stepping into that role.
Fallon will leave the CEO position he has held for the past 11 years. He joined the company in 2003 as COO from Cisco, where he was a vice president. Fallon will retain his seat on the Infinera board. Heard, meanwhile, has been the company’s COO since October 2018 (see "Infinera names David Heard chief operating officer"). Prior to joining the company in 2017, he was chairman of the Telecommunications Industry Association between 2012 and 2017. His experience prior to that includes a stint as COO of BigBand Networks as well as president, network and service enablement at JDSU.
“I couldn’t be more pleased with the Board’s selection of David as Infinera’s next CEO and I have the utmost confidence in his ability to successfully lead the company in its next phase of growth,” said Fallon. “When David joined Infinera three years ago, our objective was to bring onboard a chief operating officer who would be positioned to take over as CEO at the right time. David’s contributions since joining the company have been substantial, making us more scalable as he led us through a major acquisition, driving synergies through operational improvements, aligning our product and service portfolio, and focusing our investments on the highest value areas for our customers and shareholders.”
Hooshmand has been board chairman since November 2010 (see "Infinera taps Kambiz Hooshmand to chair board, adds Welch"). In addition to other board positions, his experience includes just over four years and president and CEO of semiconductor company AMCC. Riedel is new to the Infinera board, having joined this past June. He is a former chairman of Accedian Networks and Cloudmark.
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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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