M&A Patricia Russo, Lucent Technologies’ chief executive, has spent four tough years nursing the once high-flying US telecommunications equipment maker back to health after the industry collapsed at the start of the decade.
Now she is facing a new challenge: putting the final touches to a proposed “merger of equals” with France’s Alcatel while persuading increasingly protectionist US lawmakers of the wisdom of such a deal.
If she succeeds, Ms Russo, 53, will become chief executive of a combined company that will have to battle to stay ahead in a global telecoms market undergoing perhaps the biggest technology transformation since the telephone was invented more than a century ago.
Traditional telecoms equipment vendors such as Lucent, Alcatel, Ericsson and Canada’s Nortel face a dual challenge.
First, they must develop and deliver the hardware, software and services to power next-generation converged internet protocol (IP)-based networks. Second, they need to confront competition from new competitors such as Cisco, the network equipment market leader, high-tech start-ups such as Juniper Networks, Tellabs and Ciena, and emerging low-cost Chinese suppliers such as Huawei.
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These are challenges that Ms Russo knows only too well. As one of the founding executives of Lucent, which was spun out of the former AT&T in 1996, she has spent more than 20 years managing some of Lucent’s and AT&T’s largest divisions and most critical corporate functions.
During the 1990s she helped turn around a $6bn business communications division subsequently spun off by Lucent to become Avaya.
Before joining AT&T in 1981, shortly before its court-mandated break-up, the New Jersey native spent eight years in sales and marketing at IBM. She also served briefly as president and chief operating officer at Eastman Kodak Company before returning to Lucent as chief executive in January 2002 when the company faced an unprecedented market collapse, revenues that fell by two-thirds, and a string of lawsuits from shareholders.
Ms Russo addressed the problems head-on, cutting costs aggressively, slashing the workforce from 157,000 in 2000 to just over 30,000, rebuilding the balance sheet, settling a class-action lawsuit and restoring investor confidence.
At the same time she has refocused Lucent on growth markets such as wireless and invested heavily in new technologies.
Under her leadership, Lucent has also implemented a new operating model, developed a more customer and marketing-driven culture, won new business in emerging markets and expanded the role and reach of Bell Labs.
Ms Russo, a Georgetown and Harvard graduate and golfer, was appointed by President George W. Bush as vice-chairwoman of the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee in 2003 and is a member of the Network Reliability Interoperability Council. In a speech last year she said a leader must share a vision and “create optimism and hope”, even in the face of severe challenges.
