Telstra appoints new CEO
Ziggy Switkowski has been appointed chief executive and managing director of Telstra (Australia). Appointed for five years, he previously held the position of group managing director, business and international, at the company. Prior to joining Telstra, Switkowski was chief executive of Opus Ltd.
Jay Damiano has been appointed vice president of sales at Omnia Communications Inc. (Marlborough, MA). He has more than 28 years of telecommunications sales experience and most recently served as senior vice president of U.S. sales at General DataComm.
Peter Rust has been named president of Con Edison Communications (New York City), a new subsidiary of Con Edison Inc. He spent 17 years at Bell Atlantic and its precursor, NYNEX.
Kenneth R. Epps has been appointed senior vice president of strategic marketing for Williams Communications Inc. (Tulsa, OK). He will concentrate on strategic marketing initiatives, including branding, internal and external communications, strategy development, and optimizing cross-business unit opportunities. Most recently, Epps was vice president at Emerald Solutions Inc.
Andy Quinn has joined ElectroniCast Corp. (San Mateo, CA) as manager of business development. He was president of SpectraCom, a manufacturer of pump laser chips and chip packaging.
Raymond A. Milano has been appointed vice president of optoelectronic/analog products at Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. (Camarillo, CA). Also, Bob Rumer has been named vice president of gigabit products and Barry Sandefur has been appointed vice president of advanced networking products. Mike Logan has been appointed vice president of North American sales and James W. Gramacki has been named vice president of telecom operations.
Gerry Chastelet has been named president and chief executive of Digital Lightwave Inc. (Clearwater, FL). He has more than 30 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, most recently as president and chief executive of Wandel & Goltermann Technologies Inc.
Greg Rogers has joined M-tron Industries Inc. (Yankton, SD) as design engineering manager. His responsibilities include new product designs and research and development activities. Rogers has served 16 years in design and operations positions at electronic components companies. Also, Shain Heiss has been appointed applications engineer. He will be involved with customer technical support, internal technical sales supports, and product and competition research. Heiss is a recent graduate of South Dakota State University.
Kent Dallas has been named vice president of network services at Intelispan Inc. (Scottsdale, AZ). Previously, he was director of product development at GridNet International, where he was responsible for the development of its flagship Internet protocol-virtual private network service, IntraConnect.
William B. Beck has been named fiber- optics business manager at Storm Products` Advanced Technology Group (Hinsdale, IL). Most recently the president of SpecTran Specialty Optics Co., he has nearly 20 years` experience in fiber optics.
William R. Franta has been named director of APA Optics Inc. (Eagan, MN). In addition, Robert F. Prince has been named sales director for the company`s new dense wavelength-division multiplexer products, Suzanne Andreasen has been appointed sales and marketing manager for UV-detector products and sales of precision optics, and Terry L. VanderWert has joined as business manager for the entire range of fiber-optic products.
Pekka Tarjanne has been named vice chairman of Project Oxygen (Hamilton, Bermuda). He recently retired as secretary general of the International Telecommunication Union. Tarjanne will be involved in every aspect of the project`s development, from strategic planning to relations with regulators, carriers, and shareholders.
Walter Foss has been named vice president of sales and Paul Peck has been appointed vice president of operations at Monterey Networks (Richardson, TX). Foss joins the company after six years with Cisco Systems, where he was vice president of Southern Asia sales. Peck comes to the company after eight years with DSC Communications, where he was most recently vice president of the Japan business unit.
Britt Johnson has been appointed vice president of North American sales at Ortronics Inc. (Pawcatuck, CT). He joined the company in 1995 as a salesperson for the Chicago area and was promoted to regional manager. Previously, Johnson worked in technical support and sales at Anixter and he was a professional hockey player in Germany.
Tai S. Chen has been named vice president of sales and marketing at Pacific Fiberoptics Inc. (Santa Clara, CA), He has worked in the fiber-optic telecommunications industry for more than 20 years, including the last two years at CIENA Corp. as director of sales, national accounts.
James Rose has been appointed executive vice president of worldwide operations at LDI Inc. (London). He joins the company from TotalTel USA Communications Inc., where he most recently served as senior vice president of operations.
Gilberto Giles has been named office manager of Michael Baker de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. His responsibilities include project oversight, office activities, and marketing of the company`s services in Mexico. For more than 10 years, Giles worked as legal advisor for Grupo ICA, a Mexican construction consortium.
Roger Clarizio has been promoted to vice president of manufacturing at Sumitomo Electric Lightwave Corp. (Research Triangle Park, NC). He will be responsible for the manufacturing plants in RTP and Whiteville, NC. Clarizio has more than 15 years` experience in the fiber-optics industry. Prior to joining Sumitomo, he spent seven years at Alcatel, with the last four as plant manager of their Claremont cable operations.