Our Leadership Team

David Heard has served as our CEO and has been a member of our Board of Directors since November 2020. Mr. Heard joined Infinera in June 2017 and served as our Chief Operating Officer from October 2018 to November 2020. During his time as COO, Mr. Heard was responsible for leading the innovation of new solutions and the overall operational excellence of the company, overseeing functions including corporate development, facilities, human resources, information technology, marketing, operations, product lifecycle management, quality, research and development and services.

Mr. Heard brings a proven track record of technology industry leadership, with more than 25 years of success in the industry. Prior to Infinera, Mr. Heard served as President of Network and Service Enablement at JDS Uniphase from 2010 to 2015, and as COO at BigBand Networks (now Arris) from 2007 to 2010. Earlier roles included President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Somera (now Jabil), President and General Manager, Switching Division, at Tekelec (now Oracle), President and CEO at Santera Systems, and various positions at Lucent Technologies and AT&T.

Mr. Heard holds a B.A. in Production and Operations Management from Ohio State University, an MBA from the University of Dayton and an M.S. in Management from Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was a Sloan Fellow.

David F. Welch, Ph.D., is Founder and Chief Innovation Officer at Infinera, a role he has held since October 2018. In this role, he drives deep business and technology innovation through forward-looking strategies, including breakthrough technologies and technology partnerships, in addition to innovative business and market directions. Dr. Welch is currently a member of Infinera’s Board of Directors, where he has served the company since 2010. Dr. Welch’s past roles at Infinera include Chief Strategy and Technology Officer from 2017 to 2018, President from 2013 to 2017, Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer from 2004 to 2013 and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) from 2001 to 2004. Prior to co-founding Infinera, he served as CTO, Transmission Division at JDS Uniphase, and in various executive roles, including CTO and Vice President of Corporate Development, at Spectra Diode Labs (SDL).

Dr. Welch currently serves on the Board of Directors of several start-up companies. He holds over 130 patents and has authored over 300 technical publications, and has been awarded the Optical Society of America’s (OSA) Adolph Lomb Medal, Joseph Fraunhofer Award and John Tyndall Award, as well as the Institution of Engineering Technology’s J J Thomson Medal for Electronics. He is a Fellow of the OSA and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

Dr. Welch holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Delaware and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University.

Nancy Erba is Infinera's Chief Financial Officer (CFO). As CFO, Ms. Erba is responsible for the Company’s global finance strategy, including financial planning and analysis, accounting and reporting, tax, treasury, internal audit, investor relations, IT, and government affairs.

Ms. Erba brings over 20 years of experience, including an extensive financial management background as well as broad experience managing complex M&A integrations, pricing, and sales operations. Prior to joining Infinera, Ms. Erba served as Chief Financial Officer of Immersion Corporation, a leader in touch feedback technology, from September 2016 to March 2019. Previously, Ms. Erba was Vice President, Financial Planning and Analysis of Seagate Technology plc, a data storage company, from February 2015 to October 2015. Prior executive roles at Seagate Technology include Division CFO and Vice President of Finance for Strategic Growth Initiatives from 2013 to 2015; Vice President, Business Operations and Planning from 2009 to 2013; Division CFO and Vice President of Finance of the Consumer Solutions Division from 2008 to 2009; and Vice President, Corporate Development from 2006 to 2008. Ms. Erba currently serves on the board of directors of PDF Solutions, Inc., a software and engineering services company.

Ms. Erba holds a Master of Business Administration from Baylor University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from Smith College.

Nick Walden is Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales at Infinera, a role he has held since January 2020. He oversees global sales, business development, sales engineering and operations, and strategic partnerships. Mr. Walden’s responsibilities include revenue growth, new customer and strategic partner acquisition, and go-to-market strategy. Mr. Walden, who joined Infinera in September 2015, previously served as its Senior Vice President, Strategic Accounts and Senior Vice President, EMEA Sales, based in London.

Prior to Infinera, Mr. Walden served in a variety of senior sales roles at Ciena Ltd from 1999 to 2015, most recently as its Vice President and Managing Director, Regional Carrier Business, EMEA.

Mr. Walden studied HVAC Mechanical Engineering at the College of Technology at Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom.

Tom Burns is the General Manager of Infinera’s Optical Modules & Coherent Solutions Group, a role he has held since September 2021. He is responsible for Infinera’s optical modules and coherent solutions, including the company’s industry-leading ICE optical engines and suite of ICE-X optical pluggables.

Prior to joining Infinera, Mr. Burns spent eight years at Dell Technologies as Senior Vice President and General Manager, where he managed a multi-billion-dollar Integrated Products and Solutions business. He was Vice President Finance, Chief Accounting Officer at Xylan Corporation from 1997 until its acquisition by Alcatel-Lucent in 1999, and he held a variety of executive and senior management roles there through 2012, most recently Executive Vice President and President of Enterprise and Strategic Industries. Before moving to the public sector, he worked for Big Four accounting firm Ernst & Young.

Mr. Burns holds a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of San Diego.

Ron Johnson is the General Manager of Infinera’s Optical Systems & Network Solutions Group, a role he has held since September 2021. In this role, he is responsible for driving Infinera’s growth in open optical systems and software as networks move to 800G in the core, 400G in the metro, and 100G coherent to the edge.

Before joining Infinera, Mr. Johnson built his exceptionally deep optical and IP networking experience and expertise over 20+ years at Cisco, where he was most recently Head of Product Management for the Optical Transport Business Unit. He began his career in network engineering at SBC Communications, now AT&T.

Mr. Johnson studied electrical engineering at California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo.

Russ Esmacher is Senior Vice President, Strategy, Marketing, and Corporate Development at Infinera. In this role, he is responsible for shaping and driving long-term growth by leading the company’s strategic planning processes and supporting the execution of its growth strategies.

Mr. Esmacher has over 20 years of experience in sales leadership, business development, technical marketing, and organizational restructuring. Prior to joining Infinera, Mr. Esmacher was Senior Vice President of IP/Optical Networks, North America at Nokia from 2018 to 2021. Prior to that, he served 18 years in a variety of technical leadership roles at Cisco Systems, ascending to Head of Sales, Packet-Optical, Americas. He began his career with optical engineering roles at AFL Telecommunications and Corning Incorporated.

Mr. Esmacher holds a bachelor’s in Material Science & Engineering and a master’s in Material Science & Engineering (Photonics) from Clemson University.

Alex Derecho is Senior Vice President (SVP) of Global Services at Infinera, a role he has held since October 2018. In this role he oversees services business development, the Technical Assistance Center (TAC) and professional services. He joined Infinera as SVP of Global Customer Service in January 2018.

From 2015 to 2018, Mr. Derecho was SVP, Global Service and Support at Harmonic, where he oversaw an array of service and support programs, including system design, service deployments, technical support and professional services. Earlier senior leadership roles included SVP of Customer Services at BigBand Networks, Vice President of Operations at Network Physics, Vice President of Global Services and Support at Harmonic and Senior Director of Worldwide Sales and Services at DiviCom before the company was acquired by Harmonic.

Mr. Derecho hold a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois and an M.S. in Technology Management from Pepperdine University.

Rob Shore is the Senior Vice President of Infinera’s Global Marketing organization. In this role, he is responsible for all of Infinera’s Global Marketing efforts, including solutions, content, campaigns, digital and social media, trade shows, advertising and sales enablement.

Mr. Shore has more than 25 years of experience in the telecommunications industry leading marketing efforts, providing networking consultation and solutions and directly supporting customers in more than 65 countries across the world. He has held roles in engineering, system testing, technical support, market management, account management, technical sales and marketing.

Mr. Shore graduated from the University of Illinois with a bachelor’s in Computer Engineering.

Craig Cocchi is Infinera’s Senior Vice President of Global Operations, a role he has held since May 2020. Craig oversees global sourcing, direct and indirect procurement, planning and fulfillment, logistics, worldwide manufacturing (internal and outsource partners), and operations support for NPI. His responsibilities include cost reduction; on-time, on-quality delivery; and building an optimized and cost-effective supply chain and manufacturing organization that provides scalability and flexibility. Prior to assuming his current role, Mr. Cocchi served as Infinera’s Senior Vice President of Operations for the Optical Modules Group since 2019. Prior to joining Infinera, he was Chief Operating Officer at Blackmore Sensors and Analytics, and he previously held executive operational roles with Oclaro, Fabrinet, and JDSU/Lumentum.

Craig holds a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and Sociology from the University of California, San Diego.

Brett Hooper joined Infinera in February 2019, and is responsible for the company’s global people strategy, including culture transformation, employee engagement, organization management, talent acquisition and employee programs.

Mr. Hooper has a passion for developing innovative business-based employee programs that guide organizations through profound change. He has significant experience, and success, with complex company transformations. Prior to joining Infinera, Mr. Hooper served as Senior Vice President of People for Imperva from 2015 to 2018, and Senior Vice President of Human Resources for JDS Uniphase from 2006 to 2015. Prior to that, he served as Senior Vice President of Human Resources for Credence Systems Corporation, which he joined through the 2004 acquisition of NPTest, where he held the role of VP, Human Resources and Communications. Earlier in his career, Mr. Hooper served in a variety of roles at Schlumberger, including those in engineering, sales, marketing communications, investor relations and human resources management.

Mr. Hooper holds a bachelor's in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

David Teichmann has served as Infinera’s Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary since April 2019. He is responsible for Infinera’s global legal and corporate governance matters and policies.

Prior to joining Infinera, he served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Oclaro, Inc. from January 2014 until its acquisition by Lumentum in December 2018. From April 2007 to December 2012, he served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Trident Microsystems, Inc. From August 1998 to February 2006, he served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary of GoRemote Internet Communications, Inc., guiding the company through its initial public offering and its acquisition by iPass, Inc. From 1993 to July 1998, he served in various positions at Sybase, Inc., including Vice President, International Law and Director of European Legal Affairs based in the Netherlands. From 1989 to 1993, Mr. Teichmann was Assistant General Counsel for Tandem Computers Corporation, handling legal matters in Asia Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. He began his legal career as an attorney with the Silicon Valley-based Fenwick & West LLP.

Mr. Teichmann holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Trinity College, a master's degree in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and a J.D. from the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii. He was also a Rotary Foundation Scholar at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, where he did postgraduate work in Latin American economics and law.