Following a failed buyout offer, 3Com appointed Robert Mao as the company’s new CEO. He will succeed Edgar Masri, who is leaving the company. Mao will be based in China, the company said, “to support the company's increasing emphasis on its growing and profitable China-based H3C operations.”
The company also appointed Ronald Sege to chief operating officer; Sege will be based in the United States.
“In addition to his 30 years in the global IT and telecommunications industry, Bob's bi-cultural background, extensive business experience in Asia and fluency in Mandarin and English offer a rare set of skills that can bridge Chinese and western organizations,” Chairman Eric Benhamou said in a statement. “Bob brings the company a set of skills that are uniquely fitted to 3Com's current business needs. Having him based out of China and having an experienced leader of Ron's caliber based in the United States will allow us to speed execution of our global business plan.”
Previously, Mao was 3Com's executive vice president for corporate development, and before joining 3Com, he headed Nortel Networks' Chinese operations.
Sege was president and chief executive of wireless-broadband networks provider Tropos Networks.