Patricia Russo

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Patricia Russo (born in 1953, in Trenton, New Jersey) is the current chief executive officer of Alcatel-Lucent, one of the world's largest communication equipment manufacturers. Lucent was a spin-off from AT&T of its Systems and Technology units (AT&T Technologies, Inc., the former Western Electric), and the manufacturing and research and development operations, including Bell Laboratories. On April 2, 2006 it was announced that Russo would assume the CEO role of a new combined company resulting from the merger of the French communications company Alcatel and Lucent. This merger became effective on December 1st 2006. When Russo became the CEO of the combined company, Serge Tchuruk, the former CEO of Alcatel, remained as Chairman.

The combined company is now one of the largest in the world in terms of revenues (over $25 billion) run by a woman.

Since Patricia Russo took office, the combined Alcatel-Lucent has lost more than 40% of its value ( As of June 2008).

This performance comes on the heels of a 70% loss in the shareholder value of Lucent Technologies while Russo was its CEO prior to the Lucent/Alcatel merger.

Forbes magazine rated Russo as the tenth on its list of the most powerful women in the world in 2007. Russo is a graduate of Lawrence High School and Georgetown University and serves on its Board of Trustees.

She is married and has two stepchildren.

[edit] Quotes

"Early in my career there were some people who didn't believe a woman belonged in sales, but I worked hard on the accounts I was given and made sure I met the customers' needs and focused on producing results for the company. What I found is that results matter—it's hard to argue with them. People who produce results rise to the top."

[edit] External links

• Patricia Russo at Alcatel-Lucent
• Forbes 2006 100 Most Powerful Women Ranking