Nortel Buzzboard

Nortel today announced that Jackson Wu and François Lançon were taking over as the leaders of the Greater China and Asia Pacific regions respectively. They fill the need created in April 2008 when Michael Pangia - formerly President of a combined Asia region - was appointed to North America as Senior Vice-President, Global Sales Operations and Strategy.

Aside from the new leaders, the obvious change here is the move from having a single APAC (Asia Pacific) leader to having two leaders — one for Greater China and one across the rest of the APAC region.

In the press release, Bill Nelson, Nortel’s Executive Vice-President of Global Sales, talks about how the changing APAC market was key in the move to two leaders in the region, saying “Over the past several years, Greater China has emerged as a global economic power. The region’s importance to Nortel’s global portfolio and go-to-market strategies has also grown, and with the significant opportunities which exist across the Asia Pacific Region, the direct engagement of leaders within Asia geographies is increasingly important to Nortel’s success. These appointments will ensure we have the right focus on these most exciting growth markets for Nortel.”

Based in Beijing, Wu is a 15 year Nortel veteran and has led the Greater China team since August 2006. Wu will further develop the focus he has built in the Greater China region - encompassing the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. You may also remember that Nortel’s China Lab is one of two “full-service” R&D locations announced back in April (the other being Ottawa).

Based in Singapore, François Lançon is appointed Leader for Asia Pacific, and will assume leadership for customer and market engagements throughout the Asia Pacific region which includes the ASEAN countries of South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand, India, Pakistan and Japan. Lançon previously led the Enterprise Solutions business for the Asia region.