Former FCC Chair Reed Hundt Joins Ascend's Board of Directors; Dr. Hassan Ahmed Assumes Responsibility for Core Systems Division
BusinessWire, Thursday, July 02, 1998 at 08:20
ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 2, 1998--Ascend
Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASND) announced today that former Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Reed E. Hundt has joined the
company's board of directors. Hundt is well-known for having presided
over the implementation of the historic Telecommunications Act of
1996, which dramatically changed the U.S. telecommunications
landscape. He also helped negotiate the World Trade Organization
Telecommunications agreement opening markets in 69 countries to
competition and dropping barriers to foreign investment.
"We are excited that Reed Hundt has agreed to join Ascend's board
of directors," said Mory Ejabat, president and chief executive officer
of Ascend. "Reed is a true visionary in this industry having led the
effort to free up telecom competition that is today yielding benefits
for individuals and businesses across the U.S., and abroad. He
understands Ascend's vision, and we expect he will make a significant
contribution to the company."
Ascend also announced that Daniel E. Smith, executive vice
president and general manager of the Core Systems Division, has
resigned from the company and the board of directors, effective July
6, 1998. Dr. Hassan Ahmed will replace Smith as executive vice
president and general manager of the Core Systems Division. Ahmed
has been with the company since July 1995, having served most recently
as Ascend's vice president and general manager of Core Switching, and
prior to that, as vice president of engineering and chief technology
officer for Cascade Communications Corp. Before joining Cascade,
Ahmed served as a technical consultant for a number of leading
technology companies. During this time, he also was an associate
professor in the Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Systems
Engineering Department at Boston University.
"As president of Cascade Communications and more recently as
executive vice president of Ascend, Dan Smith has made major
contributions to this company and the telecommunications industry as a
whole for which we thank him," said Ejabat. "And while Dan's loss will
be felt, we expect Hassan will continue the great work that he has
done thus far and aptly take on this new challenge." |
