People & Places: Polycom Appoints Mary McDowell as New CEO

CI takes a look at the latest news in the industry: AVI-SPL opens an office in Germany, ATX Networks acquires InnoTrans Communications Inc., Leyard and Planar hire a new director of northeast sales, and more.

CI Staff
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Effective as of the closing of the acquisition of Polycom by affiliates of Siris, Mary McDowell will succeed Peter Leav and become Polycom’s new CEO. 

According to the company announcement, “the transaction is expected to be completed in September or October, 2016, subject to the receipt of certain regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.”

McDowell is currently an executive partner at Siris Capital and has led global multi-billion dollar businesses in the mobile, consumer and enterprise sectors. She also serves on the boards of Autodesk, Inc., Bazaarvoice and UBM plc.

Also See: Achtung! AVI-SPL Is Expanding to Germany

“Polycom is a powerful global brand and is strongly positioned to help organizations of all sizes raise the bar on collaboration to drive higher levels of productivity and deepen employee engagement,” said Mary McDowell in the press release.

“I’m looking forward to working closely with the Polycom team to build on the history of innovation and strong track record of creating best-in-class products and services that meet the needs of more than 400,000 companies, institutions, and channel partners, as well as deepening partnerships to enable the evolving Unified Communications ecosystem.”

“Mary has a unique combination of technology and management experience leading multi-billion-dollar consumer and enterprise technology businesses in mobile, telecom, and enterprise sectors that make her a great fit for this role,” said Frank Baker, co-founder and managing partner, Siris Capital.  “Her track record in architecting winning volume product portfolios is exceptional and will be an excellent fit with leading the Polycom team.”

Other news in the industry in September includes AVI-SPL opening an office in Frankfurt, Germany, ATX Networks acquiring InnoTrans Communications Inc., TAG Global Systems appointing Stampede to serve as a distribution partner for TAG TECSLATE, Leyard and Planar hiring industry veteran Vince Schuster as director of northeast sales, and more.

Check out this slideshow for more news on the most recent acquisitions, hirings, promotions and partnership news in the industry.

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