Patricia F. Russo (born June 12, 1952, in

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County. It was the federal capital, capital of the United States from November 1 until D ...

) is an American businessperson. Russo is most widely known for having served as

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Lucent Technologies Lucent Technologies, Inc. was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications equipment company headquartered in Murray Hill, New Jersey, Murray Hill, New Jersey. It was established on September 30, 1996, through the div ...

, and its successor,

Alcatel-Lucent Alcatel-Lucent S.A. () was a multinational telecommunications equipment company, headquartered in Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris, France. The company focused on Fixed line telephone, fixed, Mobile phone, mobile and telecommunications convergence, ...

, a large communications equipment manufacturer. As of 2020, she serves on the board of directors of

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

, Merck & Co., and Arconic, Inc. She serves as chairwoman of the nonprofit organization, Partnership at Drugfree.org. Prior to the split of Hewlett-Packard into two companies in 2015, Russo served as lead independent director. She now serves as chairwoman of

Hewlett Packard Enterprise The Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (HPE) is an American multinational information technology company based in Spring, Texas. It is a business-focused organization which works in servers, storage, networking, containerization software and ...

. ''

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'' Magazine rated Russo tenth on its List of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women in 2006.#25 Patricia Russo
from the 2006 ''Forbes'' "List of the 100 Most Powerful Women".

Career at Lucent

Russo joined Lucent's predecessor in 1982.Lucent's Next Leader
a January 2002 article from LightReading.com In 1992, she became President of the Business Communications Systems division, moving in 1997 to become the executive vice president of Corporate Operations, and in 1999 to executive vice president and chief executive officer of the Service Provider Networks Group. She left in August 2000, after a reorganization; however, returned in January 2002 to become the chief executive officer. After "cutting costs and focusing on sales of wireless equipment, Russo was credited with returning Lucent to profitability in 2004, after three years of red ink." However, profits that year "came largely through slashes in spending, cuts to retiree benefits, and reductions in research-and-development budgets that spurred protests."Patricia Russo
/ref> On April 2, 2006, it was announced that Russo would be chief executive officer of a new combined company resulting from the merger of the French communications company Alcatel and Lucent. This merger became effective on December 1, 2006. When Russo became the chief executive officer of the combined company, Serge Tchuruk, the former chief executive officer of Alcatel, remained as chairman. The newly combined entity failed to turn a profit, and as a result, the company's management team resorted to rounds of restructuring and layoffs to address what were considered "challenging market conditions".Alcatel-Lucent Posts Big Loss, Plans Further Job Cuts
/ref> The board eventually decided to oust the management team, and on July 29, 2008, Russo, along with Alcatel-Lucent chairman Serge Tchuruk, announced that she would step down by the end of 2008, in a broad-reaching management restructuring.CEO and Chairman Out at Alcatel-Lucent
/ref> Significant changes in the composition of the company's board were also announced. Alcatel-Lucent shares had lost more than 60% of their value since the merger. In the statement released by Alcatel-Lucent relating to her departure, Russo was quoted as saying, "The company will benefit from new leadership aligned with a newly composed board to bring a fresh and independent perspective that will take Alcatel-Lucent to its next level of growth and development in a rapidly changing global market.". On September 2, 2008, she was replaced by Ben Verwaayen.

Other activities

Russo spent nine months as the chief operations officer of

Eastman Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...

, a position she left in January 2002 when she returned to Lucent to become their chief executive officer. She was also Chairwoman of

Avaya Avaya LLC(), formerly Avaya Inc., is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey, that provides cloud communications and workstream collaboration services. The company's platform includes unified commun ...

, which was spun off from Lucent. Avaya, however, filed for bankruptcy in January 2017. On July 23, 2009, General Motors announced that Russo would be a member of the company's new board of directors.

Personal life

Russo was born in Trenton, New Jersey and had six siblings. When she was in high school, she was active in sports and even became captain of a cheerleading squad before graduating from Lawrence High School in 1969. She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and history from Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., in 1973.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russo, Patricia American chief executives of manufacturing companies Alcatel-Lucent 1952 births Living people American people of Italian descent Businesspeople from Trenton, New Jersey Georgetown University alumni Lawrence High School (New Jersey) alumni American women chief executives American chief operating officers 21st-century American women