July 29th, 2008
Vonage imports marketing mojo with new CEO
Vonage has named Marc Lefar CEO to replace Jeffrey Citron, the company chairman and interim chairman.
Lefar had been the chief marketing officer of Cingular Wireless and will be counted on to use some of that sales mojo to increase Vonage’s customer base and reduce churn.
More importantly the hiring of Lefar (statement) also signals that Vonage believes it’s out of the woods. Citron came off the bench in April 2007 to stabilize the company, which was crushed by lawsuits from the likes of Verizon and Sprint. The lawsuits were settled late last year. With the worst over, Vonage appears to be positioning itself for future growth.
Lefar in a statement said that his priorities are to improve customer service and experience as well as accelerate growth. Vonage has launched a Vonage Pro service designed for the prosumer market.
Vonage last week said it will raise up to $215 million in a private debt financing. Those funds will be used to pay off debt that’s due December 16.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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