Avaya Stacks C-Suite With Three New Executives

Ahead of Avaya ENGAGE 2023 next week, the UC giant announces a new CFO, CMO and chief product officer.

Amy O’Keefe, Avaya’s newly named finance chief

Nearly one year since bringing on Alan Maserek as its new CEO, Avaya is revamping its C-suite by bringing on three new executives.

The UC giant has named Amy O’Keefe as its new chief financial officer, Josh Mueller as its chief marketing officer, Omar Javaid as chief product officer (CPO). All three executives will report directly to Maserek.

The hirings mark a critical step in the company’s business transformation, Avaya said of the new hires announced on Friday. The company in May emerged from its second Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing in six years following months of speculation of a bankruptcy declaration after Avaya’s 2022 cloud subscription accounting problems that led to substantial earnings and revenue target misses.

[Related: Avaya CEO Calls For ‘Innovation Without Disruption’ For Enterprises]

O’Keefe in her new role as CFO will take over responsibility for the global finance organization from Becky Roof, managing director at global consulting firm AlixPartners, LLP, who was appointed as interim CFO in November. O’Keefe has more than three decades of financial experience and most recently served as CFO of WW International, formerly Weight Watchers International. She previously held CFO roles at Drive DeVilbiss Healthcare, Savant Systems, D&M Holdings, and was divisional CFO at Black & Decker.

Mueller, the company’s new CMO that will join Avaya on July 17, will oversee worldwide marketing activities. He most recently served as chief digital officer and general manager of the portfolio business unit at National Instruments. He also held the position of chief digital officer for Vonage, CMO at Dun & Bradstreet and also held marketing leaderships roles at Dell.

Mueller is taking over for interim CMO Kim Howland, who stepped in to lead marketing since August after the departure of Simon Harrison, senior vice president and CMO of the company for more than two years.

Javaid is filling the vacant CPO position and he joined Avaya on Thursday to lead product strategy and management and strategic alliances and technology partners. He most recently served as senior vice president and general manager for Qualcomm. Before that, the tech veteran was president of the Nexmo API platform unit and Chief Product Officer at Vonage. Javaid has also held various leadership roles at TiVo, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola.

“As Avaya enters a dynamic new chapter, the extensive industry and management experience of these executives will help us rapidly build on the leadership position we have established in customer experience,” Masarek said in a statement. “We operate in a very competitive technology industry, and seasoned executives like [O’Keefe, Mueller and Javaid] could choose to work anywhere. Their decision to join Avaya is strong affirmation of the company’s potential and validates that we have set Avaya on the right path for our customers, partners and employees.”

CEO Maserek joined the company in July.

Avaya’s annual ENGAGE 2023 customer and partner conference begins this Sunday in Orlando.