Tellabs Inc. has named Krish Prabhu president and CEO of the company.
Michael Birck, a company founder and long-time CEO, will remain chairman of the Naperville, Ill., telecom equipment maker.
“Krish Prabhu is the right leader to guide Tellabs forward, balancing a clear vision of the industry’s future with the real-world ability to get the right things done,” Birck said in a statement.
Prabhu launched his telecom career in 1980 with AT&T’s Bell Laboratories as a technical staff member. He worked for Alcatel Inc. in the 1990s, and was promoted CEO of its U.S. division in 1997. In 2001, Prabhu became a venture partner at Morgenthaler Ventures.
In the face of a tight spending environment, Tellabs and other telecom equipment makers have had major makeovers over the last few years, shedding jobs and revamping several areas of their businesses.
For the fiscal year 2003, Tellabs posted a net loss of $242 million, or 58 cents per share, on $980 million in revenue.
