Ribbon appoints Sam Bucci following ECI Telecom acquisition
Appointments

Ribbon appoints Sam Bucci following ECI Telecom acquisition

Sam Bucci.jpg

Former Nokia executive Sam Bucci has been appointed to a newly created role at Ribbon Communications Inc.

The news followed Ribbon’s 2019, US$324 million acquisition of ECI Telecom – which provides packet optical transport products, among other solutions – and will see Bucci take on the role of executive vice president and GM of packet optical networks.

His appointment was announced as Ribbon said it is building out networks to meet the “explosive demand” for bandwidth anticipated by the deployment of next generation 5G technology.

CEO Bruce McClelland said: “Sam's experience and leadership guiding optical product development teams over the last 15 years will be a great asset for Ribbon as we continue supporting our customers in building out their networks to meet the explosive demand for bandwidth anticipated by the deployment of next generation 5G technology.”

Commenting on his appointment, Bucci (pictured) said he looked forward to supporting the strategy.

“I am thrilled to join Ribbon during this exciting period for the packet optical market,” he said.

“Ribbon's recent acquisition of ECI Telecom, combined with the renewed energy and great leadership Bruce is providing, creates a clear path for Ribbon to be a disruptive force in the market. I am excited to be a part of these efforts and look forward to supporting the strategy.”

Bucci holds 30 years of experience in the communications sector, most recently leading the optical business unit for Nokia, managing a multi-billion-dollar business unit and leading a global team. Bucci has also worked for Alcatel-Lucent and spent several years at Nortel Networks' optical business unit in various senior product management, sales and business development roles.

He holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree with distinction from McGill University in Canada.

“I am very excited to welcome Sam to the Ribbon leadership team,” said Ribbon CEO Bruce McClelland.

“He is a perfect fit to help us execute on both our short-term and long-term strategy of establishing Ribbon as a force in the global data communications industry. Sam is a thoughtful technology and business leader who has successfully built and executed multi-year strategies focused on taking advantage of technical and commercial discontinuities to deliver differentiated offerings and gain market share in a complex, competitive operating environment. His outstanding reputation and impressive track record will be a significant addition to the Ribbon leadership team.”

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