Carl DeWilde, the executive in charge of global sales and strategy for Tellabs Inc. (Nasdaq: TLAB; Frankfurt: BTLA), is retiring and will leave the company at the end of May, Light Reading has learned.
DeWilde is one of the few outside senior executive hires brought in by Krish Prabhu, the former CEO of Tellabs, back in 2004.
His titles held at Tellabs followed a technology theme until very recently. First, DeWilde was executive VP of access products. Then he was executive VP of broadband products.
But before Tellabs changed CEOs earlier this year, DeWilde, 60, was moved to a sales and strategy role with responsibility for a larger portion of the company.
Prior to Tellabs, DeWilde was known for his technology leadership and his ability to recruit and build engineering and product teams. He was once a VP of development at Fujitsu Network Communications Inc. in its optical transport and data access business. After leaving Fujitsu, DeWilde served as CTO of Xtera Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: XCOM)
Shortly after DeWilde took on his global sales role at Tellabs, the company announced it was no longer going to be a supplier of GPON equipment to Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ), its largest broadband access customer, citing economic reasons. (See Tellabs Kills Its Verizon GPON Efforts.)
Now that DeWilde is leaving, sources say Tellabs will soon begin looking for a chief technology officer, a role the vendor hasn't filled since January 2007, when it decided to decentralize technology strategy decisions. (See Tellabs CTO Retires.) — Phil Harvey, Editor, Light Reading