Rima Qureshi, the Ericsson senior vice president in charge of the North America market, has left the company as of today.

Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC) said only that Qureshi is pursuing "another opportunity in the industry." Her interim replacement is Niklas Heuveldop, senior vice president, chief strategy officer and head of technology and emerging business.

Qureshi had held influential positions at Ericsson for years. She was chief strategy officer herself from 2014 to 2016, with responsibilities including the company's acquisition strategy. And as head of the North American market, she was Ericsson's point person for its major partnership with Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO), announced late in 2015. (See Eurobites: BT's Rivals Go Ultrafast in York, Cisco & Ericsson Forge Killer Partnership, 'Ciscosson' Aims for Future-Proof Partnership and Is the Time Right for a Cisco/Ericsson Wedding?)

We last heard from the partnership in January, when Ciscosson signed up Vodafone Hutchison Australia as a customer. (See Ciscosson Scores Telco Cloud Deal Down Under.)

Qureshi is leaving as Ericsson braces for a long period of difficult change. New CEO Börje Ekholm, who arrived in January, has articulated a plan that involves slimming down and ambitiously cutting expenses. Judging from Ericsson's first-quart results, it's off to a rocky start. (See Ericsson Tightens Focus, Warns of $1.7B Q1 Hit, Ekholm's Vision of Slimmer Ericsson Lacks Detail & Dazzle and Ericsson's Q1 Even Worse Than Feared.)

— Craig Matsumoto, Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading