Lucent names former Boeing executive as CFO
The communications equipment giant names former Boeing chief financial officer Deborah Hopkins to replace outgoing CFO Donald Peterson.
Effective immediately, Hopkins replaces Donald Peterson, who will now take the chief executive role at Enterprise Networks Group, a subsidiary that Lucent intends to spin off later this year, the communications equipment maker said in a statement.
Hopkins, 45, recently served as senior vice president and CFO of Boeing, the giant maker of aerospace equipment and parts. Prior to joining Boeing in 1998, Hopkins served as CFO for General Motors' European division.
Like its major rivals Cisco Systems and Nortel Networks, Lucent has been busy focusing its efforts on building voice and Internet-based data networks. During the company's recent quarter, Lucent said it would bolster its manufacturing capacity and spin off slow-growing businesses so it can focus on more lucrative areas such as wireless telephone and Internet equipment.
In her new post at Murray Hill, N.J.-based Lucent, Hopkins will be responsible for executive management and overseeing all of Lucent's financial operations, reporting directly to chief executive Richard McGinn.
Hopkins also spent some 13 years as part of the executive management team at Unisys. She served as chief accounting officer, helping the company in its restructuring and turnaround efforts, Unisys said.
Last week, Lucent posted second-quarter profits that rose a better-than-expected 41 percent, a significant rebound from last quarter's 23 percent drop in profits. Lucent said its net income rose to $754 million, or 23 cents a share, a penny above Street estimates. The company said it expects revenues from operations to continue to grow more than 20 percent for the second half of 2000.