Broadwing CEO steps down

David Huber has stepped down as chief executive officer of Broadwing, though he will continue to be the chairman of its board of directors, the company announced today.

Three executives will jointly oversee the company’s daily operations while the company searches for a new CEO: Chief Financial Officer Lynn Anderson, President of Sales and Marketing Scott Widham and Senior Vice President and General Counsel Kim Larsen.

"Over the past couple of years, we engineered a significant transformation of the company and are now well positioned to make continued advances toward profitability," Huber said in a statement issued today by the company. “The recent consolidation in the industry combined with Broadwing’s emerging market position has provided an excellent opportunity to transition the executive leadership of the company.”

Huber founded Corvis, a vendor of all-optical networking equipment, in 1997. As sales of that equipment declined, Corvis acquired the assets of its carrier customer, Broadwing Communications, in 2003, eventually assuming the Broadwing name. Last year, the company moved to shed its former equipment business.

With a Ph.D. in engineering and a bachelor’s degree in physics, Huber also helped found Ciena in 1992 and served as its chief technology officer.

Pressed to speculate on reasons for Huber’s departure, one Wall Street analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “He’s a scientist. Maybe the board is looking to have more of a hands-on operations guy who’s going to make deals with other carriers, maybe make acquisitions. This industry is entering a very consolidation-intensive stage. Maybe they need someone who’s more Wall Street-savvy.”

However, Huber oversaw the acquisitions of both Broadwing and Focal Communications as well as Corvis’ initial public offering in 2000.

In its most recent quarterly earnings report, Broadwing reported a $30.5 million net loss, a 17% improvement from a year earlier and a 20% improvement sequentially. Revenue declined 2% sequentially that quarter, which Huber attributed to customer churn caused by price increases in wholesale long-distance service that the company enacted earlier in the year.

Broadwing will report its fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 23.