DESCH MOVES ASIDE AT TELCORDIA

Matt Desch, the former Nortel Networks carrier group executive who led a three-year strategic and operational transformation of Telcordia that culminated in the sale of the company, has relinquished his role as CEO of Telcordia. The company announced late last week that it has appointed Daniel Carroll as its new president and CEO. Desch will remain with Telcordia for a transitional period. Carroll will take a seat on the Board of Directors.

It was Desch who late last year engineered the $1.35 billion acquisition of Telcordia by Warburg Pincus and Providence Equity Partners from previous owner SAIC. “We appreciate Matt staying on in his new role to help Dan with the transition and to provide the board his experience,” said Mark Pelson, Telcordia director and managing director of Providence Equity Partners.

It was not immediately clear what lay in Desch's future plans. He continues to serve on the boards of several companies and continues as chairman of the board at Airspan, the broadband wireless vendor.

Carroll was chief operating officer of Lucent Technologies' business communications services, responsible for Lucent's $7 billion business communications services division. He was instrumental in the development of the first voice-over-IP switch for the Lucent division that later became Avaya. He has spent 35 years with the AT&T, Western Electric and the Lucent family of companies.

Pelson said in a statement that Carroll's experience and tenure within the industry are unmatched and well-suited to Telcordia. Desch said, also in a statement, that Carroll is uniquely suited to lead Telcordia into the future.