Alcatel COO to change roles post-merger

Though Alcatel said its chief operating officer, Mike Quigley, would remain COO of the company following its pending merger with Lucent Technologies, Quigley “has decided for personal reasons to assume a different role for the combined company,” the two companies said in a press release issued Monday.

Quigley will become the combined company’s president of science technology and strategy and will focus on “the strategic direction of the company,” the release said, “assuring that strategic investments align with evolving market opportunities.”

Quigley was once expected to replace retiring Alcatel CEO Serge Tchuruk this year, but in merger negotiations, Lucent Technologies’ CEO Pat Russo was named CEO of the combined company.

Though the combined company will be led by Lucent’s CEO, the rest of its management team will be dominated by Alcatel executives. Of the company’s three business groups (carrier, enterprise and services), two will be led by Alcatel veterans. The Service group will be led by Lucent’s John Meyer. The Enterprise group will be led by Alcatel’s Hubert de Pesquidoux. And the Carrier group will be led by Alcatel’s Etienne Fouques.

The Carrier group will be further divided into three units, also dominated by Alcatel executives: the Wireless unit will be led by Lucent executive Mary Chan, the Wireline unit will be led by Alcatel’s Michel Rahier and the Convergence unit will be led by Alcatel’s Marc Rouanne.

The combined company will also have a “management committee” headed by Russo and dominated two-to-one by Alcatel veterans. The committee includes Quigley, Fouques, Alcatel’s chief financial officer Jean-Pascal Beaufret (who will remain CFO of the combined company), Lucent’s chief operating officer, Frank D'Amelio (who will become the new company’s Chief Administrative Officer and Senior Executive Vice President of Integration) and Senior Vice President of Human Resources and Communication Claire Pedini, another Alcatel alum.

The new supervendor will also be divided into four geographic regions. “Europe and North,” which includes the United Kingdom, the Nordic countries, Germany, Russia and Eastern Europe, will be led by Lucent’s Vince Molinaro. “Europe and South,” which includes France, Italy, Spain and other southern European countries as well as Africa, the Middle East, India and Latin America, will be led by Alcatel’s Oliver Picard. The North American region will be led by Lucent’s current President of Network Solutions, Cindy Christy. And the Asia/Pacific region will be led by Alcatel’s Frederic Rose.

In Monday’s press release, both companies also reaffirmed their belief that they can attain $1.7 billion in synergies in the first three years, adding that about 55% of those savings will come from plans to shed about 9,000 employees.