During the tumultuous Bill Owens era, which was dominated by financial restatements and a disastrous move into India, a calming influence within Nortel was chief financial officer Peter Currie.
While Nortel was scrambling to deal with its trouble, Currie was unflappable – always appearing cool, calm and collected. After coming back for a second stint with Nortel in 2005, Currie only spent two years before resigning. His departure was somewhat surprising given his credentials and the fact Nortel could have used his rock-solid demeanor.
That said, Currie may have seen the writing on the wall. And with a new CEO taking over, perhaps he may have figured that the new guy would probably want his own people.
Since Currie left Nortel after a 35-year career, he’s been pretty low profile, which is why his appointment to Arise Technologies Corp.’s board caught my attention. Arise a Waterloo-based company that makes cost-effective solar technology.
Arise is an unprofitable company based in waterloo Ontario. (lost $18.76M on $1.59M sales, heh, and I thought only Nortel could pull stunts like that)
According to their financials they have acquired the trick of selling more while losing more. Amazing.
Stock sells for under a buck on pink sheets ( mustered 22 mill going public, got another 6 mill grant, and ...is unprofitable. They use Deloitte as auditors by the way.
How on earth can they afford Currie? Did he take a pay cut? Solar is good. Now can they harness the hot air? =)
I'd be more impressed if he went to work for Hydrogenics (HYG).
=)
yes4aapl
Mark! I have no idea why you can be sooo wrong? Look what this poster says. Learn from his experience and background. He's been right about NT stock and the company since I remember. /5 years?/ Vapuka1! http://disqus.com/people/6d3535862525d3e5ac2d1f... \ So Mark, tell me why you are soo wrong about P Currie? Did you forget P Currie reported false Q2 2005 Triple Profits? Can we forgive him that? He fooled public, investors, customers into believing that NT was profitable! It was a LIE! Sorry for pointing that again!
ex-Nortel
Peter Currie was a disaster as CFO. He failed to put in place the requisite financial systems, processes, and controls. Under Peter Currie, Nortel was attempting to manage 36 separate P&Ls - well managed companies like Cisco and Nokia have 1 P&L. Nortel was forced to spend over $200M per fiscal year on outside accounting services because of Currie's poor performance. And of course, Peter was not able to properly implement SAP.
Peter Currie was forced to restate Nortel's financials 4 times after the two Gary's left after pointing out Nortel's lack of processes, systems, and controls. Under Peter Currie, Nortel was unable to provide any financial or business information on a real time basis. All Nortel business reporting under Peter Currie was a 3 to 4 week old snap shot. And of course, Peter Currie was unable to put into place the system of financial controls to control and manage costs. One of the key parts of Gary Daichendt's turn around plan was to fix Nortel's serious problems in the area of financial management, controls, and fiancial and business reporting. He demanded that the board replace Peter Currie.
One of Mike Z's best moves was pushing Peter Currie out the door. He realized that he could not even attempt to run Nortel with a poor performing CFO who was unable to provide the requisite financial reporting and controls.
Peter Currie is one of the primary reasons that Nortel has collapsed as a viable company. Nortel needed a strong CFO and not a cheer leader who brown nosed Bill Owens 24 hours a day. The disaster that is Nortel is a last monument to Peter Currie's poor performance as a CFO. One could say that Peter Currie was 'cool' because he had the financial IQ of an ice cube.
many
Peter Currie; taking the "I" out of Arise
Nortel investor
Is that SAP system working properly now?
Tongue.In.Cheek
They reported a couple of quarters back that they had resolved all of their material weaknesses. This suggests to me that SAP and their other systems are working properly.
less
PS: Or, rather, the *P/E* ratio plays a part in the pallor of a stock, too.
Arise Appoints Peter Currie to the Board
During the tumultuous Bill Owens era, which was dominated by financial restatements and a disastrous move into India, a calming influence within Nortel was chief financial officer Peter Currie.
While Nortel was scrambling to deal with its trouble, Currie was unflappable – always appearing cool, calm and collected. After coming back for a second stint with Nortel in 2005, Currie only spent two years before resigning. His departure was somewhat surprising given his credentials and the fact Nortel could have used his rock-solid demeanor.
That said, Currie may have seen the writing on the wall. And with a new CEO taking over, perhaps he may have figured that the new guy would probably want his own people.
Since Currie left Nortel after a 35-year career, he’s been pretty low profile, which is why his appointment to Arise Technologies Corp.’s board caught my attention. Arise a Waterloo-based company that makes cost-effective solar technology.
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