Philippe Germond, president and COO of Alcatel , will submit
his resignation at the April 19th board of directors meeting, the French
telecommunications equipment giant announced today.
A company spokesman was not immediately available to comment on the reason for
Germond’s decision or whether the executive will continue his duties until
the meeting.
In a statement, Serge Tchuruk, chairman and CEO of Alcatel, said he regrets
Germond’s decision.
“I would like to thank him for the important contribution that he made to
the group,” Tchuruk said. “In the last two years, he has
actively participated in the company’s recovery.”
Germond joined Alcatel in January 2003 after leadership posts at Vivendi
Universal. From 1980 to 1995, he worked for HP in the
United States and Europe. Germond is a graduate of the Ecole Centrale de
Paris and Stanford University.
Leading Alcatel is a big job. The company operates in 130 countries and
tallied $15.9 billion last year. Its primary business is selling
networking infrastructure to carriers, ISPs and enterprises for voice, data
and video applications.
But it’s also active in wireless technologies. Alcatel recently said it will
work
with chipmaker Intel to develop 802.16a technology
(commonly known as WiMAX
2005.
Finally, Alcatel has a space division, which develops satellite technology
for telecom, navigation, optical and radar observation, weather and
scientific applications.