Ciena appoints Monika Fahlbusch as chief people officer

Fulton, Maryland – Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN) today announced the appointment of Monika Fahlbusch as Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer, effective today. She will report to President and CEO Gary Smith and lead the company’s global People & Culture organization.

Fahlbusch joins Ciena with more than thirty years of global leadership experience and deep expertise across human resources, including integrating AI, data, and analytics into how organizations shape and execute their people strategies. She has built high-performance teams, led complex transformations, and supported significant business growth. She has held senior positions at leading software, media and entertainment, and retail companies, most recently as Chief People Officer of Epic Games, with previous leadership roles at BMC Software, Salesforce.com, and PeopleSoft.

At Ciena, she will lead the company’s global people strategy to support its continued growth, including advancing its people practices through technology, data, and automation.

“Monika brings valuable experience in helping high-growth companies transform and scale through talent, technology, and organizational strategy,” said Gary Smith, president and CEO of Ciena. “She will help us build on our progressive, people-first approach, ensuring our people strategy remains closely aligned with our business priorities, with a focus on attracting and developing talent, strengthening leadership capabilities, and evolving the employee experience.”

“Ciena has built a distinctive culture and an incredibly talented global team,” said Monika Fahlbusch, Ciena’s new Chief People Officer. “I’m excited to build on that foundation as the company enters its next phase of growth, helping Ciena continue to attract and develop great people while evolving the experiences, tools, and ways of working that will enable our teams to do their best work.”