UTStarcom Shuffles Execs

ALAMEDA, Calif., Aug. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- UTStarcom, Inc. (NASDAQ:UTSI) today announced changes to its leadership team. Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and executive vice president Fran Barton is retiring effective August 31st. Barton is also vacating his seat on the UTStarcom board of directors with the same effective date. In acknowledging his retirement, the Company thanked Mr. Barton for his service and contributions as its CFO.

Viraj Patel, UTStarcom's vice president, corporate controller and chief accounting officer, will serve as Interim CFO until the Company appoints a permanent CFO. Patel has served in his current role since November 2005. Prior to joining UTStarcom, he was vice president of finance for Celera Group and Nektar Therapeutics and was CFO at Avanti Corporation (later acquired by Synopsys) from 1999-2002.

Additionally, David King, senior vice president, international sales and marketing, has resigned from the Company. King's resignation is effective August 29th. The Company intends to announce King's successor in the short term.

Also, Craig Samuel has joined UTStarcom in the newly-created position of senior vice president, business strategy and innovation. In this visionary role, Samuel will lead company-wide product portfolio alignment and business development strategy. Prior to joining UTStarcom, Craig was worldwide VP of business innovation at Unisys Corporation, where he championed the development and application of innovation both inside Unisys and with Unisys customers. Previously, Samuel was Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) for Compaq and HP Services (HPS) and was a member of the HP CTO Office.

UTStarcom Inc. (Nasdaq: UTSI)