Avaya stacks C-Suite with three new executives | CRN

June 16, 2023, 11:56 am EDT

Ahead of next week’s Avaya ENGAGE 2023, the UC giant announces a new CFO, CMO and chief product officer.

Nearly a year after taking on Alan Maserek as the new CEO, Avaya is revamping its C-suite by hiring three new executives.

The UC giant named Amy O’Keefe as new chief financial officer, Josh Mueller as chief marketing officer, Omar Javaid as chief product officer (CPO). All three executives will report directly to Maserek.

The hiring marks a critical step in the company’s business transformation, Avaya said of the new hires announced Friday. The company in May emerged from its second Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing in six years after months of speculation about a bankruptcy filing after Avaya’s 2022 cloud subscription accounting issues led to substantial earnings. and failure to achieve revenue targets.

[Related:

Avaya CEO Calls For ‘Innovation Without Disruption’ For Enterprises

]

O’Keefe in her new role as CFO will assume responsibility for the global finance organization from Becky Roof, chief executive officer of global advisory firm AlixPartners, LLP, who was named interim CFO in November. O’Keefe has more than thirty years of financial experience and most recently served as CFO of WW International, formerly Weight Watchers International. She previously held CFO roles at Drive DeVilbiss Healthcare, Savant Systems, D & M Holdings and was a divisional CFO at Black & Decker.

Mueller, the company’s new CMO who will join Avaya on July 17, will oversee worldwide marketing efforts. He most recently served as chief digital officer and general manager of the portfolio business unit at National Instruments. He also held the position of chief digital officer for Vonage, CMO at Dun & Bradstreet and also held marketing leadership roles at Dell.

Mueller is taking on the role from interim CMO Kim Howland, who took over the marketing helm in August following the departure of Simon Harrison, the company’s senior vice president and CMO for more than two years.

Javaid is filling the vacant position of CPO and joined Avaya on Thursday to lead product strategy and management, strategic alliances and technology partners. He most recently served as senior vice president and general manager of Qualcomm. Prior to that, the tech veteran was president of the Nexmo API platform unit and chief product officer at Vonage. Javaid has also held various executive roles at TiVo, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola.

“As Avaya enters a dynamic new chapter, the broad industry and management experience of these executives will help us rapidly build on the leadership position we have established in customer experience,” Masarek said in a statement. “We operate in a very competitive technology sector and experienced executives like it [O’Keefe, Mueller and Javaid] could choose to work anywhere. Their decision to join Avaya is a strong affirmation of the company’s potential and validates that we have set Avaya on the right path for our customers, partners and employees.”

CEO Maserek joined the company in July.

Avaya’s ENGAGE 2023 annual customer and partner conference kicks off this Sunday in Orlando.