Charles Vogt, former president and CEO of Taqua, has left Tekelec Inc. (Nasdaq: TKLC) to pursue other opportunities, Headcount has learned. Vogt, also veteran of Santera Systems, another Tekelec property, is said to be working on securing another CEO gig at another privately held equipment vendor. Vogt's success at taking Taqua from deathbed to liquidity has made him a hot commodity.

Tekelec had big plans for Vogt. In April, the company made him president of global marketing and sales operations for North America and the CALA (Central America, Latin America) region.

Vogt, according to sources, was itching to be the boss and will likely be running another company in the coming months.

Interestingly, the head of Santera, David Heard, also didn't stick around that long after Tekelec swallowed the switch maker. Heard is now chief executive at Somera Communications (Nasdaq: SMRA).

The doors they are revolving over at wireless broadband vendor Navini Networks Inc., which bagged $30 million not too long ago. Bjorn Kirchdorfer, executive VP of commercial operations, and controller Jeffrey Havlock have left the company. In their place comes Greg Marzullo, as the new VP of global sales, and former Chorum executive George Simpson as VP of operations.

Kirchdorfer and Havlock now plan to launch a security firm called Kirchdorfer Havlock Associates. (Just kidding -- we just thought that sounded cool.)

Movaz Networks Inc. says its VP of human resources and internal operations, Tony Preston, has left the company. His tenure as a Movaz full-time employee was announced in May and ended abruptly in June, according to sources close to Movaz.

A Movaz spokesman says Preston only had a three-month contract, so there's no mystery as to why he left. Sources at the company say Preston's role, as announced to Movaz employees, included recruiting, orientation, training, employee relations, compensation, payroll, benefits, facilities management, company security, desktop telephony, and computer support -- a description that implied a much longer tenure.

Now that it's headless in HR, Movaz is also seeking to fill about 12 engineering positions that the company has advertised internally. In fact, Movaz has told its workers that it will pay a $1,000 bonus to any Movaz employee who provides a reference or resumé that results in a successful hire.

Siemens AG (NYSE: SI; Frankfurt: SIE) has said Klaus Kleinfeld will succeed Heinrich von Pierer as CEO in January 2005. Von Pierer, 63, will become chairman at that time. Kleinfeld has been the chief executive of Siemens USA since January 2002 (see Siemens Changes Management).

No word yet on whether Kleinfeld and Heinrich von Pierer will join Kirchdorfer and Havlock to form Kleinfeld, Kirchdorfer, Havlock and von Pierer LP

And, now, a few more appointments and disappointments from the past few days:

That's all for this go-round. Drop us a line if you have a news tip, or, for that matter, any idea when TV Guide will throw its hat into the outsourcing coverage ring as well. Send all correspondence to [email protected].

— Phil Harvey, News Editor, Light Reading