Holtz Jumps Ship

By Mark Evans | Published: March 18, 2009

Clifford Holtz, who headed up Nortel’s enterprise sales in North America, has jumped ship to become senior vice-president, America Sales with Pelco Inc., which makes video and security systems and equipment.

Before joining Nortel, Holtz was executive vice president, business markets group with Qwest Communications, where he led a $5 billion unit and managed an organization of over 5,000 employees.

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  • employeeinchina

    Wise move! It's a good example for all Notel employees.

  • NortelTragedy

    I believe he was let go several months ago …

  • sick_sigma

    Cliff Holtz left Nortel a couple of months ago. January 2009 I believe.

    Also, I think that Steve Bandrowczak basically took over Cliff's responsibilities when Steve changed from CIO to his new sales role.

    Holtz was ridiculously unqualified for the job that he had at Nortel. He was yet another operations oriented person who managed to get authority over a sales division. Not surprisingly, North American enterprise sales went into the tank under Holtz.

  • xykk

    Who are you ? The guy from GDNT ?

  • GDNTEmployee

    Please don't mix up the concept, GDNT employee are not Nortel employee. Watching the game silently.

  • One_way_ticket_to_Chapter_7

    I had the pleasure of working with Holtz too. It might have been one of Nortel's best moves in the last year to give him the heave ho.

    Unfortunately, Steve B is worse because his ego won't let him listen to customers. Another guy who thinks he knows everything and pontificates about his “resume” and experience at every turn. That works with even less qualified execs like Hackney and Z but makes customers who actually buy things cringe. Is it any wonder our enterprise sales are falling?

  • Casual_Observer

    He got booted like a lot of other folks…I haven't heard of many jumping ship to find other opportunities in this economy. I think what we'll end up with is a bunch of people who will simply have to move on to other industries as we get a 20-25% drop in spending in telecom.

  • hangingin

    http://www.10kwizard.com/cgi/convert/pdf/NORTEL…
    ?ipage=6175260&g=162093976349be75e046a47&quest=1&rid=12&section=1&sequen
    ce=-1&pdf=1&cik=1119664&fndateext=1&dn=1

    Check this out, page 225/226 outlines new Executive Severance Allowance Plan for VP's and above. These guys just don't stop screwing employees.

  • joremero

    Please don't mix up the concept, employee is singular and are is plural ;)

  • InTheRoundEye

    I would have to say, he single handily RUINED Nortel's enterprise business, I only WISH he would have gone to Cisco.

  • AnotherSlave

    Was Enhanced Severance Allowance Plan canceled with everyone else? If not, these jokers need to be tarred and feathered.

  • blowfish

    it appears the document is current as of March 2nd unless I am missing something.

  • Still_waiting

    What document is this and where is the source ? When selecting your link, I get an invalid request.

  • hangingin

    You need to copy the entire three line string into your browser.

  • NT_survivor

    Mr Evans, I think this news in addition to Wolf's exit is an excellent opportunity to institute another incentive plan which I believe investors, executives, and especially employees would be on board to implement. Mark I would love to see a poll for this concept on your site to see if all involved parties would be in agreement.
    I call it LEEP: Loser Executive Exit Plan. The terms of the incentive would be that surviving employees forgo 10 pay periods of 401K match, 25K heads @ ~200-400$ = 50-100$ million, and offer it up to all the ELT, SLT, and the BOD to leave the company. In addition they would be banned from coming back! I think I speak for many when I wish them well in their future endeavors and humbly suggest a long walk off a short bridge for them all.

  • Moose_Chaser

    Your link does NOT work…Please edit your post….MC

  • protosphere

    Joining Pelco's surveillance products to combat crime is as ironic as other Norte ex-exec bringing a whole new meaning to off shore funeral plots =)

    Prior to joining Qwest in 2001, Mr. Holtz served as Senior Vice President of Gateway from February 2000 to January 2001, and prior to that, he was AT&T's President of Metro Marketsfrom January 1997 to February 2000.

    Is interesting coincidence or have corporations gone to pot on steroids?

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A…
    Friday, October 22, 2004; Page E01
    Qwest Communications International Inc. yesterday agreed to pay $250 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that the company fraudulently booked $3.8 billion in revenue over nearly three years, repeatedly turning to accounting tricks that employees compared to a heroin “addiction.”

    http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/nortel-se…
    EDT Oct. 15, 2007
    WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -Nortel Networks Corp. has agreed to pay $35 million and consent to quarterly oversight to settle a fraud-related investigation by U.S. regulators, the company said Monday.

    (prior to working at QWest he worked at Gateway)
    http://www.crime-research.org/news/12.03.2007/2…
    March 12, 2007
    Gateway Inc.’s former finance chief and its controller manipulated earnings in 2000, a federal jury ruled Thursday. The jury in San Diego found former finance chief John Todd and former controller Robert Manza liable in the lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Gateway, the third-largest U.S. personal computer maker, settled with the SEC in 2003.

    (prior to working at QWest he worked at AT&T)
    http://news.cnet.com/Home-shareholders-cite-ATT…
    November 14, 2002
    Aggrieved investors in the defunct Excite@Home cable modem service said a months-long investigation has uncovered new evidence that AT&T engaged in “fraud”

  • blowfish

    it worked fine for me when I copied the entire link including the “…” and “?” etc.

  • tryn2makealivin

    I have copied it every way from Sunday and can't get it to work but don't expect its anything that will make my day so…

  • Moose_Chaser

    >>> BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING, HAPPENING NOW…. <<<

    MC

  • NTblinker

    Wish they will give GOOD and BIG NEWS to all the media and us waiting out the BoD door so far.

  • blowfish

    You're right, its not working anymore, likely the URL contained a session key which expired. Oh well.

  • whatnext4nt

    Any news or insights on the BoD Meeting?

  • MyHeadHurts

    See my last post here on StevieB….

    http://www.allaboutnortel.com/2009/03/09/nortel…

    He had “bad” written all over him. Nothing worse than an arrogant, no knowing IT exec. CIO for StevieB means Career Is Over!

  • TongueInCheek

    It's almost time for another Monitor's Report I think. No doubt they have the ability to review the report prior to it's formal court filing and public release.

    I doubt we'll hear much ground breaking news until the Business Plan is released later in April, but you never know. I would also guess that they have a decent handle now as to where the revenue and expense numbers are going to land for Q1.

  • http://nortelinsider.wordpress.com/ Desk Jockey

    If you couldn't get that document to load check out this equivalent one:
    http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/72911/00…
    (Warning, big document, will take time to load)

    This time it's on page 236-237:
    ———–
    Enhanced Severance Plan
    The Nortel Networks Enhanced Severance Allowance Plan (the ESAP) provides for a select group of management and highly compensated employees of NNI or any other U.S. subsidiary or affiliate of Nortel to receive severance benefits upon the termination of their employment. Employees with at least three months of service and at the vice-president level or above as of the date of termination, are eligible to receive benefits if their employment is terminated.
    ——–

    So, it looks like all you need is 3 months of service to get severance, so as long as you're VP or higher! Furthermore, these people will “receive a severance allowance of at least twelve months’ of his or her base monthly salary”!

    But this was expected. They are rewriting the rules to benefit themselves as they have done previously. Check out the rest of the document for info on executive compensation, board directors compensation and the fact that Mr. Manley (biggest tool on the BoD) works for the same law firm that is representing Frank Dunn, the biggest criminal of them all.

  • WhySoSerious

    Holtz didn't jump ship. The ship dumped Holtz.

  • http://nortelinsider.wordpress.com/ Desk Jockey

    Enhanced severance plan WAS NOT canceled. The document talks about how company aircraft were canceled after the BK filing, so this document was created after everyone else's severance was revoked. As mentioned this document was filed on March 2nd as part of the FY2008 earnings release.

  • sick_sigma

    Thanks for the information TIC. I always enjoy reading your insights.

  • tryn2makealivin

    Mark, if you read this I think this deserves its own Story line. I have noticed of all the claims filed on the E&Y site you see no Ex-Execs seeking severance as a package. You do see execs filing for Deferred Income and Pension but NO severance so I really believe its true. They are getting paid while the employees are not. More Lies and BS

  • http://nortelinsider.wordpress.com/ Desk Jockey

    My best guess is they are meeting to discuss results of their rumored negotiations. Likely they will go forward to present the asset sale plan to the creditors.

    Remember the last time the BoD met what happened? BK filing the next day. Up until this point they had been constantly denying BK as being “non imminent” and betraying the trust of employees who were promised severance. Meanwhile the cheerleaders spread their lies and dismissed all notions of bankruptcy as “mere speculation”.

  • http://nortelinsider.wordpress.com/ Desk Jockey

    This is how weasel wording ensures that management is never lying. Z man said that executives would not receive “severance” when they left, not that they wouldn't be part of the “Enhanced Severance Plan”

    “Severance” is what was taken away from rank and file employees.

    “Enhanced Severance Plan” is what only the executives were “invited” to participate in.

    So yes technically executives did not receive severance. They were invited to participate in the “Enhanced Severance Plan”. A very big difference if you're an executive!

  • gone2moro

    I guess they didn't want to “KEIP” him…. sorry I had to say it… even if it is old news.

    Will be fun watching him destroy another company.

    I've never seen a supposed leader talk down to people and genuinely enjoy making people feel miserable. With the exception of Joel Hackney…. the pair of them on Enterprise leadership calls were among the most depressing experiences of my time at NT.

    Someone should send a recording of one and send iit in anonymously to his new company…… oh wait… since these knuckle heads hunt in pack they are probably all like him…..

  • tryn2makealivin

    Well DJ maybe I was wrong here is a claim of one who lost the ESAP.

    http://chapter11.epiqsystems.com/claimpdf/48f43…

  • tfig

    Can anyone clear up a question for me, if enterprise is sold off how would Nortel split the large number of products that sit in enterprise and carrier?

    Eg CS2K (carrier) & CS2100(enterprise)
    MCS5100(e) & MCS5200 (c) plus the fact that the MCS heavily used as part of the CS2K as well
    UC component of CS1K and CS2K

    Surely it would make more sense to combine a lot of these things and become a VoIP equipment provider? Maybe selling off the data networking side of enterprise?

  • FalseProfit

    If this is truly something that was created to provide at least 12 months pay to well paid execs, I think it is time for existing employees to strike. Look at how outraged people are over the AIG “retention” bonuses.

  • http://nortelinsider.wordpress.com/ Desk Jockey

    You could be correct, ESAP could have been canceled. But it is still puzzling as to why it would be mentioned in the document filed on March 2nd.

  • NTblinker

    To me, the sell off is only be realized by creating a JV. The buyer will be a shareholder and gain money from revenues but the operational issues will be driven by NT.

  • tryn2makealivin

    Again, the url above I do not believe was a VP and it strange we see no execs filing claims for severance very odd in deed.

  • FalseProfit

    Wow – She earned $260K per year and under her severance agreement was somehow entitled to (according to her math) over $460K under the plan paying her well into 2010.
    Considering the chicken scratch writing on the backup she attached to her claim, somehow I don't think she was worth it. This is the double-edge sword with fighting for severance; on one hand I think the average employee is entitled to reasonable severance as a cushion, but I can't support plans like the ESAP that are designed to allow overpaid exces to walk away with a golden parachute.
    I pains me to think of the money wasted by inept management paying off so called “senior” people. In some cases, eligible execs would have had a short tenure and walked away with mega bucks!
    I really hope the judge denies the KEIP plans and we also need to raise the visibility on the existence of ESAP. I still don't believe that Lauren, Bill, John, Dietmar, etc walked away without a lump sum payment. This story needs its own post to provide for some focus.

  • http://nortelinsider.wordpress.com/ Desk Jockey

    Okay, so it turns out ESAP may have been canceled. After all this was part of the FY2008 report, although it was filed on March 2nd. Until we know more its best not to assume this is the truth.

  • less

    Speculating much, are we?

  • NTblinker

    Sure! Unfortunately, think that the BoD went to sleep, No Breaking News for today.

  • TongueInCheek

    Sorry I forgot that only negative speculation related to the death and destruction of Nortel is wanted on this blog. Or fascinating dialogs around a “green” agenda that have zero relevance to what is going on.

  • Theleftbehind

    Steve B actually screwed the integration of DHL and Airborne systems. He claimed he improved it and if you talk to the DHL people they will tell you it never worked and they had separate systems. Now doesn't matter as DHL shut down the while division.

  • Theleftbehind

    I respectfully disagree with that first statement. Cliff was able to change the revenue trajectory of the business from negative to growth. Joel never liked him because he used to tell him what he was doing was wrong. Joel always wants people to tell him he is great. Joel decided to stop all investments in certain products and tried to make NT the “integrator” and services arm of Microsoft fir tfeir OCS products.

  • Theleftbehind

    The Board of Directors already decided to take mike out. The only thing that mike is doing is talking to customers telling lies. Pavi is running the show. It is done. No way back. NT will dissapear. They will sell the pieces, pay some debts and sink the rest on chp 7.
    It's done.

  • Theleftbehind

    If you can't listen to the recording just watch a terror movie. Will make you feel tfe same way

  • Theleftbehind

    He was let go. No severance package.

  • Theleftbehind

    Mike Pangia jumped ship. He quit and started in a new company.

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