Tellabs’ New CEO Talks Strategy

XC: Carl DeWilde, who until recently was Tellabs’ executive vice president, global sales, services and strategy, has resigned. What does this personnel change mean for Tellabs?

Pullen: What I intend to do is replace his function with an EVP of global sales as well as hire a chief technology officer.

XC: So you’re going to expand the definition of what Carl DeWilde has been doing from one position to two?

Pullen: Yes.

XC: Tellabs is looking for a CTO, more than a year after Tom Gruenwald retired. Why the delay in filling the post?

Pullen: Our previous management didn’t believe it was important, I do. We’re looking for the CTO to help us anticipate customer needs, assess new technologies, assess potential acquisitions, amongst other roles and responsibilities.

XC: What has been your biggest challenge since taking the helm at Tellabs?

Pullen: Getting out our value proposition to both current and potential customers. We have some strong value propositions, and one of our challenges is to improve that over time. We need this organization to get better at quantifying our benefits and the value to our customers as well as differentiating us versus the competition. At the same time, trying to reduce expenses while setting a growth trajectory for the company has been a challenge as well.

XC: What do you hope Tellabs will have achieved by this time next year?

Pullen: I hope that we have more innovative products and services that will be launching. I also believe and hope that we’ll be improving our gross margin and we’ll have an updated strategy for growth over a multiyear period. I also plan by the end of this year to reduce $100 million of expenses so that will be in our run rate by 2009.

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