Nortel's Ethics Domo
I had a chance to chat yesterday with Susan Shepard, Nortel's chief ethics and compliance officer, during a conference at the University of Toronto. As much as Nortel has stumbled and bumbled its way through its restatement process, you have to be impressed with the senior executives that CEO Bill Owens has managed to attract - other than most of them are not Canadians, which is a story for another time. While ethics is a “squishy” corporate goal, Shepard has a strong track record that, hopefully, will keep Nortel scandal-free. The common denominator among the company's overhauled executive team seems to be character and experience - in other words, they have impressive resumes. Whether they will be get Nortel back on track hinges on external factors such as demand from carriers and cablecos and the competitive landscape, which is becoming increasingly challenging.
