Ciena appoints Keri Gilder as vice president and general manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa

Ciena veteran to help service providers and businesses prepare networks for today’s web-scale demands

LONDON, UK – Ciena® (NYSE: CIEN) has appointed Keri Gilder as Vice President and General Manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) to guide Ciena’s customers and partners in the region as they adapt to accommodate high-bandwidth applications and services, such as those needed for data centre interconnect (DCI), cloud-based services and video. Gilder’s focus on business-outcomes will also drive Ciena’s OPn network approach in the region; advocating Ciena’s advanced software and networking technologies to facilitate the transformation to open, software-driven networks.

Throughout her career, Gilder has been heavily involved in facilitating mentoring and career development programmes, most recently helping to establish Women @ Ciena, a global internal networking initiative that aims to encourage diversity within Ciena through motivating and inspiring women in the company at all levels and across disciplines. 

Francois Locoh-Donou, Chief Operating Officer at Ciena, comments; “Keri’s deep knowledge of the industry and Ciena’s technology combined with a relentless focus on customer experience has gained her respect as a consultant and mentor. She is also a transformational leader; reinforcing the business benefit of a diverse workforce and driving high-performance teams to deliver strong business outcomes for our customers and partners – making her a natural fit for this leadership role.”

“Ciena is focused on helping our service provider and enterprise customers adjust to the pace of change in the ICT industry to meet today’s web-scale demands.  With a great team we can advise and assist customers as they adopt new networking technologies and ensure the transition to open, software-enabled networks is seamless - and profitable. I am looking forward to being a part of Ciena’s success in the region,” stated Keri Gilder, Vice President and General Manager, EMEA at Ciena.

Gilder has held several sales leadership roles at Ciena, having joined the company in 2002. Most recently she served as Vice President of Global Account Sales, EMEA. Previously, she served as Vice President, Major Account (CenturyLink) in North America.

Before joining Ciena, Gilder worked in multiple roles for Lucent Technologies and also maintained an S.S.B.I. (Single Scope Background Investigation) security clearance while working for Raytheon as a Network Engineer.

Based in London, Gilder has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with an emphasis in Management Information Systems (MIS) from New Mexico State University, Six Sigma Green Belt and Dale Carnegie certifications.