About Zhone › Press Releases › 2007 › exec-team

Print Format

Press Release

Zhone Technologies Names Key Additions to Executive Team

Organizational Strategy Set for Company-Wide Initiatives in Advanced Technology, Services, and Global Marketing

Oakland, CA — July 17, 2007 — Zhone Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZHNE), a global provider of advanced communications equipment and a leader in VoIP, IPTV, and Ethernet over copper and fiber access lines, today announced that it has aligned its executive roster to drive company-wide initiatives in advanced technology, customer service and support, and global marketing.

Ascend Technologies veteran and Zhone VP of product management and advanced technology Eric Presworsky has been named Zhone's chief technology officer. Presworsky will continue Zhone's tradition of helping operators grow revenues and reduce costs through innovation, by leading the company's development of the next generation of access and transport technologies.

"Eric is a proven innovator with deep knowledge of the access network," said Mory Ejabat, Zhone's chairman and CEO. "His drive, expertise, and ingenuity will be instrumental in extending our industry-leading technology roadmap with our customers."

"Operators are seeing the value in practice now of our unique approach to enabling communication service innovation on a converged, flexible access platform," said Eric Presworsky, Zhone's CTO. "Our customers' positive feedback is providing excellent fuel for our continued technology development."

Zhone's other management-team moves also reflect the company's focus on functional leadership for maximum customer value.

Steve Rogers is assuming responsibility as Zhone's vice president of product management. Rogers brings six years of experience at Zhone -- as VP of global service and support as well as in engineering management roles in release testing and other areas -- to the product leadership role. This experience equips him with a deep understanding of carriers' needs for flexibility and feature-richness in deployment as well as rock-solid performance in operation. Prior to Zhone, Rogers led product management for the access business unit at Nortel, where his products were widely recognized by operators for their value in their operations.

Steve Dick has joined Zhone to lead the company's global service and support (GSS) operation. He has an exemplary record in building GSS teams, measured in terms of revenues, Quality Assurance (QA) ratings, and 90th percentile customer satisfaction. He has led service organizations for Ascend, Lucent, and most recently IP Infusion, where he drove a 15 percent revenue gain while in charge of engineering, QA, professional services, customer support, and offshore development. Steve Dick has also held positions as the VP of customer service for Kana Software and VP of global service and support for Harmonic Inc. He holds an MBA in finance and marketing from Michigan State University and earned a BS in industrial engineering from Purdue University.

Zhone has also named Steven Glapa to lead Zhone's global marketing initiatives. Glapa comes to Zhone from ArrayComm, where as VP of marketing he worked closely with carriers to clarify network economics value driven by new technology and repositioned the company for success in Multiple-Input/Multiple-Output (MIMO) software for WiMAX and 3G wireless systems. Glapa's prior experience also includes roles at Booz-Allen and Hamilton, developing strategy for Fortune 100 clients; at Lucent Technologies, as vice president and general manager of IP messaging and applications; and at Banter, a customer service software startup later acquired by iPhrase. Glapa holds an MBA from Columbia University, a BS in mechanical engineering and computer science from George Washington University, and a BA in physics from Carleton College.

"As a technology and customer service driven access company, the new executive roster reflects these core values and is readied to execute the next phase of the company's growth," said Kirk Misaka, Zhone's chief financial officer. "This management team has an outstanding combination of technology and cross functional business expertise, coupled with strong individual track records in growing global operations."

"Customer service is an orienting principle for Zhone and extends to our technology and every person in the company," said Mory Ejabat. "The first rule of customer service is product excellence and Zhone is utilizing the right combination of people and technologies to ensure our customers innovative, easy to manage products at an optimal value, paired with a service experience that sets the standard for our industry."

About Zhone Technologies — Access for a Converging World

Zhone Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZHNE) is a provider of advanced communications equipment to more than 600 operators worldwide. The company's broad line of access and transport networking solutions enables the full range of multi-play services, including residential and business broadband, VoIP, IPTV, and Ethernet. Zhone's converged access platform improves network agility and reduces costs, allowing operators to rapidly deploy premium services on their existing copper and fiber infrastructure while providing a seamless migration path to an efficient, all-IP network. www.zhone.com

Contacts:

Zhone, the Zhone logo, and all Zhone product names are trademarks of Zhone Technologies, Inc. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective holders. Specifications, products, and/or product names are all subject to change without notice.