COO Jim Chirico to Succeed Kevin Kennedy as Avaya CEO

Jim Chirico, chief operating officer and global sales leader at Avaya, has been named CEO and a board member of the Santa Clara, California-based communications technology firm in a move that takes effect Oct. 1.

He will succeed the retiring Kevin Kennedy, who will remain with the company as an adviser, Avaya said Monday.

œI’m confident [Chirico] has the knowledge, experience and skills to help Avaya effectively serve our customers, grow, continue the company’s spirit of innovation and capture even more market share, Kennedy said.

Chirico leads an organization that oversees global sales, human resources, sales operations and quality and has played a role in Avaya™s transformation into a software and services firm since he joined the company in 2008.

œI will work closely with Kevin over the next two months to ensure a smooth transition as we also continue the process to emerge from chapter 11,” Chirico said.

Prior to Avaya, he worked at Seagate Technology as executive vice president for global operations, development and manufacturing and held leadership roles in the areas of engineering, procurement, logistics, worldwide operations, manufacturing, supply chain and product management.

He spent nearly two decades at IBM (NYSE: IBM) before he transferred to Seagate Technology in 1998.

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