Zhone Technologies has named James Norrod to president and CEO, succeeding Mory Ejabat, who will stay on as executive chairman at the IP networking company to help with the transition and to provide strategic guidance. Norrod has also joined the Zhone board.
Norrod, who started his career at IBM, has previously served in the CEO slot at companies such Power Solutions, Segway, Telebit, ITK, CGX and Octocom.
"The Board and I have complete confidence that Jim is the right person to be our next CEO," Ejabat said, in a statement. "Jim's 25-year career as a CEO has been marked by outstanding performance, and he has demonstrated remarkable talent and excellent judgment in all of his endeavors. As Zhone's new CEO, Jim will manage the day-to-day operations while I will continue to provide strategic oversight."
"Mory's extraordinary vision and leadership guided Zhone to its leadership position in GPON Access as one of the most innovative technology companies in the industry," added Richard Kramlich, co-founder and chairman of NEA, on behalf of Zhone's Board.
In conjunction with Norrod’s appointment, Zhone’s Compensation Committee has approved the grant of an inducement award to Norrod consisting of a stock option to purchase 1.25 million shares of the company's common stock.
