Avaya LLC, cloud communications and workstream collaboration services provider, headquartered in Morristown New Jersey, has announced further changes to its leadership board.
Alan Masarek, Avaya’s President and Chief Executive Officer, will retire at the end of the calendar year. Avaya’s current Chair of the Board of Directors, Patrick Dennis, will assume the role of CEO, effective 1 September 2024. Dennis brings 30 years of experience and a proven track record of transformational leadership of companies in Enterprise Software, SaaS, Cybersecurity and Communications. He currently serves as CEO of Venafi, a cybersecurity company that is in the process of being acquired by CyberArk, where he drove innovation, growth and customer success.
Patrick Dennis, who became Chair of the Avaya Board as the company emerged from its recapitalisation in May 2023 stated, “Avaya is now operating from a position of financial strength and industry leadership, and our strategy is resonating with customers around the world who can be confident in Avaya’s consistency in strategic direction and commitment to deliver for their long-term success.” Prior to his appointment at Venafi, Dennis held positions at ExtraHop, a company lauded for its thought leadership in Artificial Intelligence, Aspect Communications (now known as Alvaria), EMC and Oracle Corporation.
Masarek’s second retirement comes at the conclusion of a successful, eight-quarter transformation of the business, and he stated, “While there is certainly more to do, Avaya’s new position of strength combined with Patrick’s unique ability to lead the company creates an opportunity for me to return to retirement, fully confident in Patrick’s ability to lead Avaya to future long-term growth and innovation.”
Avaya has embarked on an extensive operational transformation within each functional area and these announcements come on the heels of the appointment of Kamilah Thomas to the role of Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer (CPO). Thomas reports directly to Avaya’s CEO. Thomas brings a wealth of experience to Avaya with more than 20 years of global human resources leadership and organisation transformation expertise. She now oversees Avaya’s global human resources organisation and culture transformation to advance the company’s Destination Place to Work journey, which marks another step in the company’s ongoing mission to continue to deliver high-performance culture. As part of her role, she leads the company’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEI&B) efforts including Avaya United employee resource group communities to create an equitable and inclusive work environment and culture.
