Nortel loses two senior executives

Two top executives at Nortel Networks have left the company just a few months after taking up their posts.

Gary Daichendt, Nortel's president and chief operating officer, is stepping down because of differences with CEO Bill Owens, the company said on Friday. Daichendt had been appointed as president and COO in March. He had earlier been a senior executive at Cisco Systems.

"Gary has made a major contribution to Nortel during his time here and has added value to our strategic initiatives and business plan," Owens said in a statement. "It has become apparent to Gary and me, however, that we have divergent management styles and our business views differ."

Owens, who is also vice chairman at the networking equipment maker, will take over as president and COO. The change takes place immediately.

Also leaving the troubled company is Chief Technical Officer Gary Kunis, who was named to that post in April. His two-month tenure is only a little shorter than that of his predecessor, who had taken the CTO post in October 2004. Kunis had worked at Cisco with Daichendt.

Nortel has been through a number of executive changes in recent months.