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Ron Spithill to retire after 43 years with Alcatel

IT People - People

Australian Ron Spithill will retire from Alcatel in October after 43 years with the company. He will be replaced in his current role, that of chief marketing officer, by Alan Mottram.

Spithill has been CMO, based in Paris, since 2003. He spent most of his career with Alcatel Australia and its predecessor STC, rising to the role of managing director in 1995. He was appointed president of Alcatel Asia Pacific later that year while remaining MD of Alcatel Australia. He relinquished that role in 200 and moved Alcatel's Asia Pacific leadership team to Shanghai, making Alcatel the first multinational to locate its regional headquarters there.

The same year, he was appointed to Alcatel's executive committee and in 2001 was appointed executive vice president of Alcatel, continuing to serve simultaneously as Asia Pacific President and vice chairman of Alcatel Shanghai Bell, Alcatel's main Chinese joint venture company.

The new CMO, Alan Mottram, has been president of Alcatel's Fixed Solutions activities since the beginning of 2003. Previously he held senior positions within Alcatel's access, enterprise, software and services activities. He has been with the company since 1991, spending his early years in the Group in Alcatel's service provider business in the UK market.