Nortel Networks Wednesday announced that CTO Bill Hawe resigned last week.
Hawe resigned, exercised and sold 602,000 Nortel stock options three days before Nortel announced that first quarter results would be far lower than expected. Nortel stock plummeted 33 per cent after that warning.
Hawe resigned on February 12 and Nortel issued its warning on February 15.
Nortel, which is facing a slew of class action lawsuits after its warning, said it is not unusual for executives to exercise options once they choose to leave the company.
Hawe has been replaced by Jules Meunier, a 22-year Nortel veteran who was most recently president of the company's core network division. Meunier began his new duties yesterday.
Nortel referred inquiries on the reasons for Hawe's resignation to Hawe. Calls to Hawe's office were not returned by press time.
Reuters quoted Nortel as saying Hawe resigned "to seek other opportunities".
Hawe came to Nortel two and a half years ago with the Bay Networks acquisition.
