Nuance Names Wes Hayden to Head New Enterprise Division
Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories CEO Wes Hayden joined Nuance Communications Oct. 1 as president of the company’s new Enterprise Division. In this new position, Hayden will be responsible for managing strategy operations, marketing, professional services, and engineering for Nuance’s enterprise products and solutions.
Hayden joins Nuance and its Enterprise division at a time when the company has shifted its emphasis from point technologies to integrated enterprise solutions that use speech and are targeted at specific markets. "Nuance created a talent ensemble and solutions portfolio that has the potential to serve the world’s consumers," Hayden said in a statement. "Nuance’s vision for speech in the enterprise is more exciting today than ever before and is embodied in the myriad breakthroughs it has recently brought to customers and partners. I am honored to lead this organization, eager to work directly with our customers and partners, embrace Nuance’s global agenda, and lead the team to a dynamic, promising future."
Hayden joined Genesys in 1999 as its senior vice president for the Americas. Prior to that, he was vice president of the Central U.S. Region at Informix Software, a provider of database management systems, and held sales positions at Sun Microsystems, Digital Equipment, and Applied Data Research.
"Wes will be a tremendous asset to Nuance; his leadership, vision, track record and industry expertise make him an ideal leader for our ambitious agenda," Paul Ricci, chairman and CEO of Nuance, said in a statement. "Wes is widely respected as an executive with solid enterprise-oriented solution skills and ability to foster strong customer relationships. With this appointment, we add additional strength to our leadership team and enter 2008 with a keen focus on aggressive growth and satisfying demand for Nuance solutions around the world."
To replace Hayden, Genesys promoted Chief Operating Officer Paul Segre to president and CEO. As a key member of the management team, Segre played a major role in shaping the compay’s growth strategy over the past five years. He also served as a key architect of Genesys’ strategy to expand its market footprint by developing Dynamic Contact Center technology to enable enterprise to adapt to fast-changing customer service environments and championed its increased investment in IP and voice self-service offerings that extend communications beyond the contact center.
Segre joined Genesys in 2002 as chief technology officer. Before joining Genesys, he was vice president and general manager of Alcatel's (now Alcatel-Lucent) Wireline Access business unit. Previously, he was vice president and general manager of the Advanced Products Division at DSC (formerly Digital Switch Corp.) and held senior management positions at AT&T in network and workforce management.
"Paul Segre is the natural choice to take Genesys to the next level. His leadership skills and experience with Genesys' people and technology, its partners and customers will benefit the entire organization," Hubert de Pesquidoux, president of Alcatel-Lucent’s Enterprise Business Group, said in a statement.
As a result of Hayden’s joining Nuance, Genesys and Nuance expect to expand their existing partnership, in which they jointly sell and implement customer service and speech solutions.
"Genesys is just beginning to realize its full potential," Segre stated. "Our core markets remain very healthy, with Genesys expanding at more than twice the market growth rate. And we are gaining incredible traction for our strategy of creating a unified platform for delivering rich customer experiences via the Web, voice, or video across any device."