Infinera (NASDAQ: INFN) has added four people to its executive roster, including one to its Optical Systems & Network Solutions Group, two to its Optical Modules & Coherent Solutions Group, and a new senior vice president of strategy. The new hires come from such companies as Cisco, Dell, Jabil, and DriveNets.
The newcomers include:
- Ron Johnson as general manager of the Optical Systems & Network Solutions Group, where he will be responsible for driving growth in the company’s open optical systems and software business. Johnson will join Infinera in September from Cisco, where he was head of product management within Cisco’s Optical Transport Business Unit.
- Tom Burns as general manager of the Optical Modules & Coherent Solutions Group, making him responsible for Infinera’s optical modules and coherent solutions, including the company’s ICE optical engines and suite of ICE-XR optical pluggable modules (see “Infinera to offer ICE-XR optics coherent pluggable transceivers in 2022”). Burns will join Infinera, also in September, from Dell Technologies, where he was senior vice president and general manager. Infinera says that Burns will partner with co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer Dave Welch on building the XR optics business.
- Azmina Somani is now senior vice president of engineering within the Optical Modules & Coherent Solutions Group. As the title implies, Somani is responsible for engineering of Infinera’s optical modules and coherent products. She has more than 30 years of experience in the optical components industry, including executive leadership positions at such companies as Jabil, Lumentum, JDSU, and Nortel. In her most recent role, at Jabil, Somani was photonics R&D head.
- Russ Esmacher joined Infinera this past May as senior vice president of strategy from cloud routing technology provider DriveNets, where he was senior vice president, product and solutions, Americas. Esmacher is now responsible for strategy, marketing, and corporate development. In addition to his most recent post at DriveNets, Esmacher’s more than 20 years of experience includes executive positions at Nokia and Cisco.
“The shift to open optical networks represents an unprecedented opportunity for Infinera with our differentiated, high-performance solutions and vertically integrated capabilities,” said David Heard, Infinera CEO. “I’m thrilled to welcome these talented industry veterans to our team as we strategically align the organization to scale and accelerate toward the next phase of Infinera’s growth and innovation.”
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About the Author
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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