Alcatel-Lucent names new head of IR

Alcatel-Lucent, the Paris-based mobile phone and telecoms company, has named Marisa Baldo as its new vice president of IR, as predecessor Frank Maccary moves into a controller role.

Baldo, who will report to CFO Jean Raby, is new to Alcatel-Lucent, having served as a sell-side analyst at Société Générale from 1995 to 2004. During her time as a sell-sider, she at first took charge of European technology stocks – including Alcatel-Lucent – before heading up the semiconductor sector. 

In September 2004 she became director of M&A and strategic projects at Technicolor (formerly know as Thompson Multimedia), where she remained until 2010. Before taking up her new position at Alcatel-Lucent, she was the founder of a consultancy, says the firm in a press statement, as well as serving as a professor of financial analysis at the prestigious Rouen Business School.

‘[Marisa] has a first-class pedigree as a financial analyst for the technology sector, and this acumen together with her broader background will be essential to strengthening our relationship with investors and other key stakeholders as we make further progress with the Shift Plan,’ says Raby, welcoming Baldo to Alcatel-Lucent. He also thanks Maccary – who has now taken up a new role as controller for the fixed networks activity – ‘for his thorough commitment and for his key role in presenting the Shift Plan to the financial community.’

The Shift Plan is ‘an industrial, operational and financial plan to refocus Alcatel-Lucent as an internet protocol (IP) networking and ultra-broadband specialist’, according to the firm’s website. As part of the company’s refocus, Alcatel-Lucent wants IP networking and ultra-broadband to represent 85 percent of R&D investment in 2015, as well as targeting €1 bn ($1.4 bn) in fixed-cost savings and asset sales of more than €1 bn during 2013-2015. The plan also targets €2 bn in debt reprofiling during 2013-2015 and a future debt reduction of €2 bn.