Mystery solved: Kennedy to join Avaya

OCTOBER 30, 2009 By Stephen Hardy -- Yesterday's mystery involving JDSU's (search for JDSU) soon to be ex-president and CEO Kevin Kennedy's next job has been solved. This morning, Avaya Inc. (search for Avaya) announced that Kennedy will join the company as president and CEO effective January 2009.

Avaya also revealed that current president and CEO Charles Giancarlo will become chairman of the board when Kennedy comes aboard.

"Kevin Kennedy brings to Avaya a deep understanding of the enterprise communications industry and extensive senior management experience," said Giancarlo. "He will join Avaya at a time when we are strongly positioned in our industry. Kevin will lead Avaya to even greater success and further our strategy and execution to be the premier enterprise communications partner for our customers."

Kennedy's departure from JDSU was announced yesterday during a downbeat earnings call that covered results from the first quarter of fiscal year 2009. In notes this morning, John Harmon of Needham & Co. downgraded JDSU to hold, while Paul Bonenfant of Morgan Keegan & Co. maintained his "market perform" rating.

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