Genesys CEO Leaves for Nuance Post

Wes Hayden, who had been president and chief executive officer of Alcatel-Lucent's Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories unit, joined Nuance Communications on Oct. 1, as president of Nuance's new Enterprise Division. In this new position, Hayden will be responsible for managing strategy operations, marketing, professional services, and engineering for the company's enterprise products and solutions. Hayden joins Nuance and its enterprise division at a time when the Burlington, Mass.-based company has shifted its emphasis from point technologies to integrated enterprise solutions that use speech and are targeted at specific markets. "Nuance created a talent ensemble and solutions portfolio that has the potential to serve the world's consumers," Hayden says. "Nuance's vision for speech in the enterprise is more exciting today than ever before and is embodied in the myriad breakthroughs it has recently brought to customers and partners. I am honored to lead this organization -- eager to work directly with our customers and partners, embrace Nuance's global agenda, and lead the team to a dynamic, promising future." Both companies say that Hayden's move to Nuance will help expand the two companies' existing partnership, in which they jointly sell and implement customer service and speech solutions, an effort described by Alcatel-Lucent marketing materials as "integrating Nuance's award-winning speech solutions with Genesys self-service and routing technologies." Hayden joined Genesys in 1999 as its senior vice president for the Americas. Prior to that, he was vice president of the Central U.S. Region at Informix Software, a provider of database management systems, and held sales positions at Sun Microsystems, Digital Equipment, and Applied Data Research. "Wes will be a tremendous asset to Nuance; his leadership, vision, track record, and industry expertise make him an ideal leader for our ambitious agenda," Paul Ricci, chairman and CEO of Nuance, said in a statement. "Wes is widely respected as an executive with solid enterprise-oriented solution skills and ability to foster strong customer relationships. With this appointment, we add additional strength to our leadership team and enter 2008 with a keen focus on aggressive growth and satisfying demand for Nuance solutions around the world." To replace Hayden, Genesys promoted Chief Operating Officer Paul Segre to president and CEO. As a key member of the management team, Segre played a major role in shaping the company's growth strategy over the past five years. He also served as a key architect of the company's strategy to expand its market footprint and championed Genesys' increased investment in IP and voice self-service offerings that extend communications beyond the contact center. Segre joined Genesys in 2002 as chief technology officer. Before joining Genesys, he was vice president and general manager of the Wireline Access business unit of Alcatel (now Alcatel-Lucent). Previously, he was vice president and general manager of the Advanced Products Division at DSC (formerly Digital Switch Corp.) and held senior management positions at AT&T in network and workforce management. "Paul Segre is the natural choice to take Genesys to the next level. His leadership skills and experience with Genesys' people and technology, its partners and customers will benefit the entire organization," Hubert de Pesquidoux, president of Alcatel-Lucent's Enterprise Business Group, said in a statement. "Genesys is just beginning to realize its full potential," Segre says. "Our core markets remain very healthy, with Genesys expanding at more than twice the market growth rate. And we are gaining incredible traction for our strategy of creating a unified platform for delivering rich customer experiences via the Web, voice, or video across any device." Related articles: Nuance Looks to Go Mobile Though it's a sharp departure from its usual acquisitions, the maker of Dragon NaturallySpeaking voice recognition software buys BeVocal, which hosts voice-automated customer service solutions. Feature: The Year in (P)review: 2005 "The Scansoft-Nuance merger is one of the boldest moves the speech industry has seen in the past two years," one analyst says. Feature: The Rising Star and Service Excellence Awards The new Nuance Communications, CRM magazine's 2006 Service Excellence award winner, is certainly no stranger to scooping up speech-technology providers. Feature: The 2007 Service Leaders Genesys wins in interactive voice response; a leader in computer telephony integration; "Genesys is an interesting case study for how the market is changing," one analyst says. Genesys Rubs Aladdin and Acquires VoiceGenie Technologies The deal is one of the latest markers of contact center consolidation. Vouching for VoiceXML Genesys highlights its Genesys-VoiceGenie integration road map at G-Force 2006, its annual user conference. Genesys Announces Stronger Ties and New Solutions at G-Force 2005 The company collaborates with Verizon to forge a hosted IP solution; the partnership with Microsoft will now deliver BPO solutions. Gartner Eyes IVR and EVP Vendors Magic Quadrant findings ping Avaya, Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Intervoice, and Nortel as leading the sector; reduced complexity and tight integration are hallmarks of advancement. Alcatel Acquires Brazil's GMK The move is a play to enter the Latin American market and acquire an established customer base, but there will be trade and language barriers.

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