Mitel, a global leader in UCaaS, has just announced that former Polycom CEO, Mary T. McDowell is their new President and CEO. McDowell brings an intimate understanding of the comms and technology markets and a strong track record of driving growth at global organisations. At Polycom, McDowell led the company through a strategic operating model transformation resulting in revenue growth and ultimately a successful sale to Plantronics in 2018. The two companies subsequently rebranded as Poly in March of this year.
McDowell was executive vice president at Nokia before her role at Polycom. While at the mobile telecom giant, she was in charge of the $15 billion global feature phone business and oversaw Nokia’s developer and app store organisation. She also previously occupied senior roles at HP and Compaq. McDowell sits on the board for multi-national software company Autodesk as well as UK-based Informa, a multi-national events and publishing company. McDowell also holds a position on the board of C200, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the advancement of female leadership in business, 'a powerful community of the most successful women in business'.
Former Mitel CEO, Rich McBee, has accepted a new executive role and departs Mitel after leading the company through a period of strategic transformation, including driving Mitel’s industry consolidation strategy, completing more than a dozen acquisitions and strategic transactions. During his tenure, Mitel evolved from a premises-based PBX pioneer to a leading provider of cloud communications. McBee said:
“I’m extremely proud of what the Mitel team accomplished in our time together through a rare combination of passion, dedication and innovation”
Andrew Frey, Mitel board member and partner at Searchlight Capital Partners, commented, “Mary’s proven operating experience and success in guiding technology companies through market transitions make her an ideal choice to guide Mitel in this next chapter.”
