Mitel has appointed telecom veteran Mike Robinson as its new Chief Executive Officer, succeeding Tarun Loomba.
The move comes at a pivotal moment for the company as it charts its course after a turbulent restructuring earlier this year.
Robinson brings more than three decades of leadership experience in telecom, infrastructure, and enterprise services.
He has held roles as CEO, CFO, and board director across public and private companies in both the U.S. and international markets. Most recently, he served as President and CEO of Sungard Availability Solutions and currently chairs Everstream Solutions, a fiber-based telecommunications carrier.
“Mitel has made tremendous progress under Tarun’s leadership, and I’m grateful for the strong foundation he and the team have built through the acquisition of Unify and the financial restructuring,” said Robinson.
This is an important moment for the company. My priority is to move quickly through this next phase by listening and engaging with employees, customers, and partners, and ensuring our strategy continues to create value for those we serve.
“Mitel has an incredibly strong and loyal customer base, and I am committed to demonstrating that same loyalty back to them through the value, reliability, and innovation we deliver.”
A hallmark of Robinson’s career has been guiding organisations through complex transitions, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and post-restructuring phases.
That expertise appears tailor-made for Mitel, which emerged from bankruptcy with a streamlined balance sheet, a sharper focus on hybrid communications, and ambitions to strengthen its market position.
Loomba, who joined Mitel in 2020 as Chief Product Officer before becoming CEO in 2021, oversaw a challenging period marked by the pandemic, major acquisitions, and restructuring.
“With Mike’s deep post-emergence experience, I am confident Mitel is positioned to accelerate even faster and deliver long-term customer value,” Loomba said.
“One of the hallmarks of a good leader is to know when it’s time to pass the baton to someone else,” Zeus Kerravala, Founder and Principal Analyst at ZK Research told UC Today.
“Tarun Loomba had a tough job managing Mitel through acquisitions, COVID and a financial restructuring.
“The company certainly came out better on the back end of these transitions. Now the skill set lies with working with the private equity firm to execute on the plan in place.
Mike Robinson has a history in different industries driving post growth transformation [and] should be a good CEO for Mitel in its next phase.”
Implications for Mitel’s Future
The appointment underscores Mitel’s determination to stabilise after its bankruptcy earlier this year, a process that reduced its debt burden and gave it breathing room to invest in growth.
By handing the reins to Robinson, the company is signalling a pragmatic focus on financial discipline and operational execution rather than dramatic strategic shifts.
For customers and partners, continuity will be key. Mitel has long positioned itself as a hybrid communications leader, catering to organizations that prefer a mix of on-premises and cloud-based services.
That market remains robust: according to a 2024 Techaisle survey, 92 percent of organizations are prioritising hybrid communications as they adapt to a world of distributed workforces and rising data security demands.
The competitive landscape, however, is intensifying. Cloud-first rivals such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and RingCentral continue to expand aggressively, while established players like Cisco are pushing hard into AI-driven collaboration.
Mitel’s challenge will be to carve out space as the reliable, flexible option for enterprises that cannot or will not go fully cloud.
Robinson’s track record suggests he will prioritize delivering predictable value to customers while ensuring Mitel’s financial footing remains solid.
