The news comes as Infinera aims to further align its business to maximize market opportunities in open optical networking.
“The shift to open optical networks represents an unprecedented opportunity for Infinera with our differentiated, high-performance solutions and vertically integrated capabilities,” said David Heard, CEO of Infinera.
“I’m thrilled to welcome these talented industry veterans to our team as we strategically align the organisation to scale and accelerate toward the next phase of Infinera’s growth and innovation.”
Ron Johnson was named general manager of optical systems & network solutions group where he is responsible for driving Infinera’s growth in open optical systems and software.
Johnson enters the role with deep optical and IP networking experience and expertise, a position he starts in September. Most recently, he served as head of product management at Cisco’s Optical Transport Business Unit.
Tom Burns has been appointed as general manager of optical modules & coherent solutions group where he is responsible for Infinera’s optical modules and coherent solutions, including its ICE optical engines and suite of ICE-XR optical pluggables.
Burns comes from Dell Technologies, where he managed a multi-billion-dollar networking and solutions business. Like Johnson, Burns will join the company in September, partnering with co-founder and chief innovation officer Dave Welch.
Azmina Somani was named as senior vice president of engineering, optical modules & coherent solutions group where she will be responsible for optical modules and coherent solutions engineering.
With over 30 years of experience and expertise in the optical components industry Somani has worked for the likes of Jabil, Lumentum, JDSU, and Nortel. In addition, she has a proven track record of developing and delivering state-of-the-art subsystems and modules to the market.
Russ Esmacher, senior vice president of strategy is the late appointment and is responsible for strategy, marketing, and corporate development in leading the company’s strategic planning processes and executing plans to achieve market share gains and the company’s target business model.
Esmacher brings over 20 years of experience in go-to-market programs, sales leadership, business development, and technical marketing, including prior executive positions at Nokia and Cisco, to the role.
