Ciena has appointed Mary Yang as senior vice president and chief strategy officer. As part of her new role, Yang will be responsible for driving Ciena’s overall corporate strategy as well as execution of corporate development activities, including mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and related integrations.
Reporting to President and CEO Gary B. Smith, Yang will serve as an integral member of Ciena’s executive team and a key interface between the company’s engineering and product development teams, sales and marketing organisation, and chief technology officer.
Commenting on the development, Gary B. Smith, president and CEO, Ciena, said, “Mary brings an exceptional combination of business acumen and strategic insights in the technology arena, specifically around driving leading-edge innovation and new technologies to market. Through deep analysis of market trends and industry dynamics, Mary will help accelerate Ciena’s strategy and further solidify our industry leadership position in delivering solutions that address the world’s connectivity needs.”
Yang brings more than 25 years of experience in technology through a career focused on advising companies on strategic investments, alliance opportunities and global M&A activity. Before joining Ciena, she served as vice president of corporate and business development at NIO, a leader in the design and development of smart, high-performance electric vehicles. Prior to that, she held senior leadership roles in strategy and corporate development at leading communications companies, including Fortinet, Cisco and Nortel.
“Ciena is a pioneer in ground breaking technology and constantly redefines the limits of the industry in ways that change the way the world communicates. With Ciena’s leadership team, I look forward to carving out new opportunities for growth and strengthening our position in shaping the future of network transformation for our customers,” said Yang.
Yang holds several academic degrees from Stanford University, including a Juris Doctorate, Master of Business Administration, Master of Science in Management Science and Engineering, and Bachelor of Arts in Quantitative Economics.
