Russo returns to Lucent as president & CEO

Lucent Technologies has named Patricia F. Russo as the company's president and CEO. Russo, 49, succeeds Henry Schacht, 67, who will serve as chairman of the company.

Russo most recently served as president and COO of Eastman Kodak Company. She now returns to Lucent where she was one of the founding executives who helped launch the AT&T spin-off in 1996. Russo has spent 20 years in senior executive leadership positions at Lucent and AT&T.

"Pat brings deep knowledge of our industry and our customers coupled with the ability to lead a large organization through change," said Schacht. "She understands and embraces our strategic and restructuring plans, and she can step in as CEO without missing a beat.

During Russo's most recent tenure at Lucent and AT&T, she served as executive vice president and CEO of Lucent's Service Provider Networks division, and had responsibility for sales, distribution, installation and development of products and systems for Lucent's service provider customers. This is the same business that Lucent decided to make its core operation as part of its restructuring plans in 2001.

She also served as executive vice president of Lucent's corporate operations from 1997 to 1999, and had oversight for corporate strategy, business development, supply chain, human resources and investor and public relations organizations.

As president of the Business Communications Systems division of AT&T and Lucent from 1992 to 1996, Russo executed the successful turnaround of a $6 billion enterprise communications business, which was Lucent's second-largest division and was later spun off as Avaya Inc.

Before joining AT&T in 1981, Russo spent eight years in sales and marketing management at International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation.