Frank Plastina, who was once considered a candidate to replace John Roth as Nortel’s CEO, has yet another new job – this time with Tekelec, which makes telecom equipment from fixed, mobile and packet networks. Plastina left Nortel in late-2002 where he was president of the company’s metro and enterprise networks business. Apparently, Plastina was disappointed after Frank Dunn succeeded Roth as CEO in late-2001. Who knows what would have happened if Plastina, who spent 15 years with Nortel, had been given the job. After Plastina left Nortel, he became president and CEO with Proxim Inc., which was a turnaround situation that proved to be a difficult challenge. Oppenheimer analyst Lawrence Harris described Plastina’s hiring by Tekelec as “positive, as Tekelec has gained an aggressive executive with significant contacts with carriers and substantial experience in switching and signaling”. Sounds like someone Nortel may have wanted to hire after Bill Owens retired.
Ex-Nortel Exec Plastina Gets Another New Job
Frank Plastina, who was once considered a candidate to replace John Roth as Nortel’s CEO, has yet another new job – this time with Tekelec, which makes telecom equipment from fixed, mobile and packet networks. Plastina left Nortel in late-2002 where he was president of the company’s metro and enterprise networks business. Apparently, Plastina was disappointed after Frank Dunn succeeded Roth as CEO in late-2001. Who knows what would have happened if Plastina, who spent 15 years with Nortel, had been given the job. After Plastina left Nortel, he became president and CEO with Proxim Inc., which was a turnaround situation that proved to be a difficult challenge. Oppenheimer analyst Lawrence Harris described Plastina’s hiring by Tekelec as “positive, as Tekelec has gained an aggressive executive with significant contacts with carriers and substantial experience in switching and signaling”. Sounds like someone Nortel may have wanted to hire after Bill Owens retired.