Does Zafirovski Keep Hackney?

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Does Zafirovski Keep Hackney?

By Mark Evans | February 22, 2007

When CEO Mike Zafirovski was rebuilding Nortel’s senior management team last year, he wanted to attract high-quality people with strong character, which made sense given the accounting scandal that had engulfed the company in 2004 and 2005. So, what does Zafirovski do with Joel Hackney, senior v.p. of operations and quality, who admitted he was guilty of false imprisonment, assault on a female and communicating threats following a road rage incident in a parking lot after a basketball event last October in North Carolina?

According to the criminal complaint filed against Hackney, he cut off Alicia Ogden in his Audi SUV. When she honked at him, he got out of his car and asked if she had a problem. “He then grabbed the left side of my face,” Ogden said in the affidavit. “I told him not to touch me and he responded that he’ll do what he wants.” (Source: The News Observer) So does Zafirovski keep Hackney, who has agreed to 50 hours of community service and written an apology to Ogden, or does he cut him loose?

Prediction: Hackney gets a slap on the wrist but the incident gets brushed aside as a first-offender, he’s truly sorry, will-never-happen-again kind of thing. Either that or Hackney “resigns” with a nice package.

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