As the Nortel Turns…New CTO
Nortel's drive to re-invent itself has taken another turn with news that CTO Greg Mumford is leaving. He'll be replaced by long-term Nortel executive Brian McFadden, who was heading up the company's struggling optical unit. There has been speculation Nortel may dump the optical business to focus on the faster-growing wireless and enterprise markets. As a result, the promotion of McFadden could be a harbinger of things to come. It is interesting Nortel choose to bury the news about Mumford's dismissal in its bi-weekly filiing with the Ontario Securities Commission yesterday. It is like Nortel believed the media “vultures” had enough to digest about the plans to eliminate another 3,250 employees without offering up news about a senior management shuffle. Mumford, who has received not-so-serious consideration for the CEO job before Frank Dunn was given the assignment in 2001, was ranked as Light Reading's “Top Ten Movers and Shakers in Telecom” so his departure will leave a huge whole in an already unstable corporate environment at Nortel. Apparently, he will act as a “special advisor” Bill Owens. That's good news given Owens' lack of telecom experience. It should be noted that Light Reading was the only media organization - as far I can tell - that picked up on Mumford's firing.
