- Ribbon Communications recently announced the appointment of Stewart Ewing and Krish Prabhu to its Board of Directors and Bruce McClelland as its President, CEO, and a director, effective on or around March 1, 2020.
Ribbon Communications — a global software leader in secure and intelligent cloud communications — recently announced the appointment of Stewart Ewing and Krish Prabhu to its Board of Directors, effective on or around March 1, 2020. And Ribbon Communications also announced it named Bruce McClelland as its President, CEO, and a director, effective on or around March 1, 2020.
Stewart Ewing And Krish Prabhu
Ewing most recently served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of CenturyLink. He had joined CenturyLink as its Vice President of Finance in 1983 and assumed the role of Chief Financial Officer in 1989. While working as CFO for 28 years, he played a significant role in CenturyLink’s acquisition strategy, negotiating all stages of purchase agreements, legal and regulatory matters, and integrating acquired companies into CenturyLink’s corporate structure and philosophy. Before that, Ewing began his career at KMPG in 1973.
And Ewing also serves on the board of directors of Progressive Bank and is chairman of its audit committee. He has been active with several non-profit organizations, including the Monroe Chamber of Commerce, United Way of Northeast Louisiana, Northeast University of Louisiana at Monroe, Northwestern State University, Wellspring, ARCO and Northeast Louisiana Soccer Association — which he helped found. Ewing graduated from Northwestern State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in business.
Prabhu is currently an independent technology consultant and advisor to technology start-ups. Most recently, Prabhu was Chief Technology Officer and President of AT&T Labs. And during his tenure, he was responsible for the company’s global technology direction, including network innovation, product development and research, intellectual property organization, and global supply chain organization. Before that, Prabhu served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Tellabs.
Prabhu was also a venture partner at Morganhaler Ventures where he was involved with the funding and development of startup companies specializing in networking hardware and software. And earlier in his career, he held various leadership positions at Alcatel, including Chief Operating Officer, Chief Executive Officer of Alcatel USA, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of US operations. Plus Prabhu also serves on the board of directors of Sanmina Corporation. He received a Master of Science degree in physics from the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay, India and a Master of Science degree and Ph. D in electrical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.
Kim Fennebresque is stepping down after two and a half years as a director of the Ribbon Board, effective on or around March 1, 2020.
Bruce McClelland
McClelland served in numerous leadership roles throughout his career of more than 3 decades — which includes 20 years at ARRIS International plc where he most recently served as its CEO and led the sale of ARRIS to CommScope for $7.4 billion in April 2019. While working at ARRIS, McClelland managed the successful acquisition and integration of the Ruckus Wireless and Brocade ICX Campus switching businesses from Broadcom. After the acquisition of ARRIS by CommScope, McClelland served as the Chief Operating Officer of CommScope where he was responsible for the combined portfolio of products and services. Previously Mr. McClelland spent 11 years at Nortel Networks Corporation and Bell Northern Research. And he began his career with BNR in Ottawa, Canada and was responsible for the development of Nortel’s SS7 switching products immediately prior to joining ARRIS. Before that, McClelland earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan.
Key Quotes:
“Stewart and Krish have remarkable backgrounds with significant depth of knowledge and we are thrilled to welcome them to our team. Stewart has nearly three decades of financial leadership in the telecommunications sector, and Krish brings a strong technical background with deep industry expertise. We believe their appointments further enhance our Board’s strength to create long-term value for our stockholders.”
“The Board is excited to appoint Bruce as the new President and CEO of Ribbon. He is a technical business leader with a proven history of developing and growing sustainable, diversified, and profitable businesses through multiple technology and business cycles. We believe Bruce is the right person to lead Ribbon forward into our next chapter as a combined company with ECI Telecom Group Ltd.”
– Richard Lynch
“I am honored to lead the Ribbon team during this exciting time in the Company’s history with the transformational merger with ECI on the near-term horizon. I look forward to bringing my knowledge and expertise to the combined company, working closely with the Ribbon Board and executive management team to create a premier workplace and winning culture for our employees while driving long-term value for our customers and stockholders.”
– Bruce McClelland
