Mitel has hired veteran telecommunications executive Mike Robinson to lead the Kanata-based company as it attempts to regain its footing after emerging from creditor protection earlier this year. Robinson succeeds Tarun Loomba, who had served as CEO since 2021. Robinson’s appointment comes less than three months after Mitel signed off on a financial restructuring plan […]
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Mitel has hired veteran telecommunications executive Mike Robinson to lead the Kanata-based company as it attempts to regain its footing after emerging from creditor protection earlier this year.
Robinson succeeds Tarun Loomba, who had served as CEO since 2021. Robinson’s appointment comes less than three months after Mitel signed off on a financial restructuring plan that slashed its debt and provided the company with US$125 million in new funding.
Mitel’s decision to appoint Robinson to its top C-suite role suggests the unified communications service provider is hoping to turn the page on a tumultuous chapter that saw it file for bankruptcy protection earlier this year.
In a news release Tuesday, Mitel called Robinson – who brings more than three decades of experience in telecom, infrastructure and enterprise services to his new job – “a seasoned leader with the specific post-restructuring expertise needed to drive Mitel’s next phase of transformation.”
Indeed, Mitel’s new boss is no stranger to navigating organizations through dramatic changes, complex financial transactions and, sometimes, choppy waters.
His first go-round as a CEO came at Broadview Networks, where he spearheaded the New York-headquartered company's transformation from a local telecom service provider to cloud-based unified communications-as-a-service company. Broadview acquired multiple companies before being sold to Arkansas-based telecom provider Windstream for US$227.5 million in 2017, and Robinson left the firm after the deal was finalized.
Robinson then moved on to Sungard Availability Services, a Pennsylvania firm that provides disaster recovery, cloud and other services to data centres and other customers.
He became Sungard’s CEO in May 2019 after the company restructured hundreds of millions of dollars in debt and landed US$100 million in fresh capital. But the firm continued to struggle, filing for bankruptcy protection for a second time in 2022, and its cloud, managed services and recovery services business lines were acquired by New Jersey-based 11:11 Systems later that year.
Now, Robinson, who lives in North Carolina and currently serves on the board of Cleveland-based telecommunications carrier Everstream Solutions, is once again stepping in to try to lead a company out of financial turmoil.
In the news release, he said Mitel has made “tremendous progress” under Loomba, citing the firm’s acquisition of global communications services giant Unify in 2023 and its recent restructuring as moves that have laid a “strong foundation” for future growth.
“This is an important moment for the company,” Robinson said. “My priority is to move quickly through this next phase by listening and engaging with employees, customers, and partners, and ensuring our strategy continues to create value for those we serve.
“Mitel has an incredibly strong and loyal customer base, and I am committed to demonstrating that same loyalty back to them through the value, reliability, and innovation we deliver.”
When the firm’s financial restructuring plan was confirmed in June, Loomba said the company would focus on building its leadership position in the hybrid communications space as ownership of the company shifted from Searchlight Capital Partners, which bought Mitel in 2018, to a new group of lenders.
While the company initially said it didn’t expect to make any changes to its senior executive team, it’s now banking on Robinson – who joined Mitel’s board of directors in July – to pilot its turnaround.
