22 September 2003 Atlanta Lightwave -- OFS, designer, manufacturer and supplier of fiber and cable products, today announced a corporate reorganization and changes to its executive management team to streamline its organizational structure and increase operational efficiencies within the organization. Kiyoshi Takeuchi, currently president and chief executive officer of Fitel USA, will assume the role of chairman and chief executive officer of OFS, effective November 17, 2003. Eddie Edwards, current president and chief executive officer will step down from his post at this time but will remain involved in the company as a member of the OFS Board of Directors.
Consistent with the company's ongoing efforts to reduce costs and streamline operations, OFS announces the following changes to its current senior leadership structure:
•Paul Neuhart will assume the new role of pesident and chief operating officer of Fiber, Cable and Connectivity. Neuhart will also be responsible for chief information officer activities and procurement for OFS, sales and marketing, and research and development for the three product lines.
•Tim Murray will assume the role of president of Specialty Photonics and will also be responsible for specialty photonics sales.
•Hiroyuki Ogiwara, currently chief financial officer of Fitel USA, will assume the role of chief financial officer for OFS. Ogiwara's assignment streamlines the financial reporting process and flow of information to shareholders.
As a result of these appointments, several executives will leave OFS: Kenneth Walker, president of Specialty Photonics; Nicolas Khoury, president of Optical Fiber; and Scott Bohrer, vice president and chief financial officer. Walker will continue to be a member of the OFS Board of Directors and also serve as a technical adviser to Takeuchi.
"OFS is taking painful but needed steps to reach a stable financial position and maintain its leadership status as an innovator in the optical fiber industry," said Kiyoshi Takeuchi. "For the past two years OFS has been improving operational excellence and product innovation under Eddie Edwards' leadership. He has had the difficult task of reducing expenses and the size of the company to reflect customer demand and market realities. I would like to thank Eddie for his stewardship of OFS during a difficult, unprecedented downturn in the fiber-optic industry and also extend thanks to the other executives whose achievements in driving innovation at OFS will be remembered long after the current industry malaise is forgotten."
OFS is a designer, manufacturer, and supplier of optical fiber, optical fiber cable, optical connectivity and specialty photonics products for a wide variety of applications and industries. Formerly the Optical Fiber Solutions division of Lucent Technologies, OFS has a track record of being first in the industry with application specific fibers, optical connectors, ribbon cables, erbium doped fibers, Raman fiber lasers and more. OFS is committed to providing customers increased value by offering products that deliver lowest cost per bit network solutions, protecting investments through future flexible solutions.
OFS distributes its optical fiber, optical fiber cable, optical connectivity and specialty photonics products directly to end users, as well as through valued distributors, external cable customers and equipment vendors.
OFS is owned by majority shareholder Furukawa Electric, a multi-billion dollar global provider of optical communications products and CommScope, a broadband coaxial cable supplier. Headquartered in Norcross, GA, OFS operates facilities in Avon, CT;
Carrollton, GA; Somerset, NJ; and Sturbridge, MA, as well as facilities in Denmark, Germany, Russia and Brazil.