Ericsson's CTO Ulf Ewaldsson adds strategy to his existing responsibility for technology at the Swedish vendor, which has yet to appoint a new permanent CEO.

September 20, 2016

3 Min Read
Ewaldsson Grows His Ericsson Empire

Ericsson rejigged its top table again today, this time by handing the vendor's CTO, Ulf Ewaldsson, the additional responsibility of group strategy.

Ewaldsson, an amiable and respected executive with more than 25 years under his belt at Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC), is now in need of a giant business card, as his job title now reads Chief Strategy and Technology Officer and Head of Group Function Strategy and Technology for the Ericsson Group. (See Ericsson Appoints Ulf Ewaldsson as Head of Strategy & Technology.)

Responsibility for strategy had previously been held by Rima Qureshi, but she took on a new role in July as the lead executive for the vendor's largest geographic market when she became Head of Region North America. While Qureshi was Chief Strategy Officer she spearheaded Ericsson's partnership negotiations with Cisco, and continues to hold responsibility for managing that market-changing relationship. (See Ericsson Announces New Top Team, Cisco + Ericsson: From Soup to Nuts and Ericsson Still Seeking M&A Targets.)

Figure 1: My Job Just Got This Much Bigger! Ulf Ewaldsson is now responsible for Ericsson's group strategy as well as its technology roadmap. Ulf Ewaldsson is now responsible for Ericsson's group strategy as well as its technology roadmap.

Both Ewaldsson and Qureshi continue to report to the current Ericsson CEO, Jan Frykhammar, who has held that role on a temporary basis since Hans Vestberg was ousted in July. The search continues for a new, permanent CEO. (See Ericsson Ejects CEO Vestberg and Ericsson Board Has Been Asleep at the Wheel – Consultant.)

Ewaldsson has shown himself to have a very firm grip on where the communications industry is headed, having articulated Ericsson's virtualization strategy in 2012 and 2013, overseen the company's branch into data center infrastructure with the Hyperscale Datacenter System (HDS) 8000, helped to stress the importance of OSS/BSS evolution and led Ericsson on the road to 5G.

Check out this video interview between Ewaldsson and Light Reading's CEO Steve Saunders from earlier this year:

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For more insight into the Ericsson executive's views, see:

— Ray Le Maistre, Circle me on Google+ Follow me on TwitterVisit my LinkedIn profile, Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading

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