Nortel loses second top exec since May

Nortel Networks has lost its second top executive in as many months, with Anil Khatod, the company’s chief marketing and strategy offer, resigning “to pursue other opportunities.”

Khatod, who had been with Nortel 18 years, had served as chief marketing and strategy officer only since April. He had previously worked as president of the company’s optical Internet unit, wireless Internet unit, and as vice president of global Internet solutions.

Khatod’s resignation, effective immediately, follows the May departure of Chief Operating Officer Clarence Chandran, who left citing medical complications resulting from a 1997 stabbing attack in Singapore.

This latest departure leaves an extra hole in the organization, which is already dealing with a turnaround effort, Chandran’s resignation and the upcoming retirement of CEO John Roth, who has announced that he will leave the company in April 2002.

According to Mark Lutkowitz, vice president of optical networking research with Communications Industry Researchers, one of the possible reasons Khatod is leaving is to avoid becoming the scapegoat for the company's current troubles.

“He didn’t exactly leave during optical fever days when he could have gotten an enticing package,” said Lutkowitz. “This is a person who seemed very committed to Nortel and the fact he is leaving [means] one could speculate that the woes Nortel is having are related.”

Another possible reason for Khatod’s departure is the state of the company’s current turnaround effort, said Lutkowitz. “I can only imagine that Nortel is not going in the direction he would like.”