Nortel board adds new director

TORONTO - Nortel Networks Corp. announced Thursday it was dissolving the three-member team set up to help Frank Dunn&#39;s transition to chief executive last year, and that former chief executive John Roth would step down as a director. <br> <br> A statement issued after markets closed also said William Owens, a former vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, has joined the board of directors. <br> <br> The Canadian-based fiber-optics leader has become synonymous with the troubled technology industry, losing more than $27 billion last year while its stock price declined 90 percent in value. It is reducing its workforce to less than 50,000 from a high of 96,000. <br> <br> Dunn took over from Roth on Nov. 1, but Roth and Lynton R. (Red) Wilson joined him in creating the ``office of the chief executive&#39;&#39; to help Dunn in his transition from chief financial officer. <br> <br> Wilson said the Nortel board no longer felt Dunn needed the help. <br> <br> ``This is a strong vote of confidence in Frank Dunn and his team,&#39;&#39; he said. <br> <br> ``We were winding up a very difficult year when I became CEO,&#39;&#39; Dunn said. ``The combined understanding and experience I received from Red and John in handling a CEO-level transition was of great help to me as we focus the company on returning to profitability this year.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Wilson returns to his former position as non-executive chairman of the board, and Roth - who was chief executive during the stock freefall of 2001 - will not seek re-election to the board when shareholders meet April 25, the Nortel announcement said. <br> <br> Owens, 61, is vice chairman of the board and co-chief executive officer of Teledesic, LLC, a $10 billion private venture building a satellite communications network. <br> <br> He was vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the second highest-ranking military officer in the United States, from 1994-96, and previously served as deputy chief of U.S. naval operations, commander of the U.S. Sixth Fleet and senior military assistant to the secretary of defense.

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