Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) has lost another big executive this week, but this one says she's stepping down for personal reasons "unrelated to the business."

Cindy Christy (also known in hyphenated name circles as Cynthia Christy-Langenfeld) was president of AlcaLu's America's Region, which includes the Caribbean and Latin America, but not Wales. Christy sent an email to staff today saying she was stepping down after a 20-year career with the various iterations of Lucent.

The news comes only days after Ben Verwaayen took over as CEO of the giant vendor. (See Verwaayen Takes the Helm at AlcaLu and The Diary of Ben V., Age 56.)

Christy started her career in 1988 at AT&T Network Systems, which later became Lucent, which now exists as Alcatel-Lucent (read: "Alcatel Minus Lucent").

An AlcaLu spokeswoman confirmed Christy's departure and noted that she was unavailable to speak with Light Reading. Well, some things never change, eh?

Few know this, but Christy actually did attempt a resignation earlier this year -- back in June -- but was swayed by Her Majesty, then CEO Pat Russo, to stay on throughout the search for a new chief executive, Light Reading sources close to the situation say.

AlcaLu's PR squad denied to Light Reading that the resignation had taken place at the time, but only because it hadn't actually been made official. This all matters because the series of events helps to back up the idea that Christy's departure was unrelated to AlcaLu's management change.

Christy's duties will be taken over, for the time being, by James V. Cocito, chief operating officer, North Americas Region, who has been with Alcatel-Lucent since November 2006.

— Phil Harvey, Editor, Light Reading