Lumen Technologies Crowns New EVP Of Enterprise Operations

As the telecom giant presses on with its transformation plans during what its CEO is calling its “reset year,” Lumen is adding Kye Prigg as its new EVP of enterprise operations, a business that accounts for more than three-quarters of Lumen’s overall revenue.

Kye Prigg

Lumen Technologies, formerly CenturyLink, is bringing on telecom veteran Kye Prigg as its new executive vice president of the service provider’s enterprise operations, a business that accounts for more than three-quarters of Lumen’s overall revenue.

Prigg’s first day will be June 1, 2023, according to Monroe, La.-based Lumen.

Prigg is replacing Richard Batelaan, the company’s former EVP of North America operations, who left Lumen earlier this year to become chief operating officer for infrastructure company USIC.

[Related: Lumen Technologies’ ‘Turnaround’ Progress Includes Investment In Fiber, SASE And UC]

The company, which has struggled in recent years against financial headwinds, has been focusing its investments on growing its enterprise business through strategic IT services.

To that end, Lumen recently began making sweeping changes to its leadership team. The company in November brought on tech veteran Kate Johnson as its CEO. In February, Lumen brought on Sham Chotai as executive vice president of product and technology and Jay Barrows as executive vice president of enterprise sales and public sector. Lumen also added Ashley Haynes-Gaspar, former COO of US Business Applications and Industry at Microsoft, to its marketing organization as executive vice president and customer experience officer, Wholesale and International.

With the addition of Prigg on the enterprise operations side, Barrows will continue to oversee enterprise sales, a spokesperson for the company told CRN.

The company said at the time that the changes will better position it for growth and to place more of an emphasis on customer experience.

CEO Johnson in February referred to 2023 as the company’s “reset year.” In addition to leadership changes, Lumen also shed several business units to help it return to revenue growth and leave room to invest in strategic business services and fiber.

A longtime telecom leader, Prigg comes to Lumen from Canadian telecom company Rogers Communications, having served as senior vice president of access networks and operations for four years where he led wireline and wireless teams responsible for the planning, design, deployment, performance, and operations of the company’s national mobile, enterprise, and consumer fixed networks. Prigg has more than 30 years of global experience in the telecom sector, having worked for companies such as Vodafone, Softbank, and Ericsson, in multiple countries.

“Lumen’s mission is to digitally connect people, data, and applications - quickly, securely, and effortlessly, and our enterprise operations is critical to how we deliver on that mission,” Lumen President and CEO Johnson said. “[Prigg] is an expert in driving both large-scale network and cultural transformations. We will put his skills to good use as we build Lumen from the people up and modernize to deliver seamless experiences for our customers.”

During the company’s most recent fiscal quarter that ended March 31, Lumen’s large enterprise segment, which contributed to 79.1 percent of the company’s revenue during the quarter, dipped 17 percent to $1.19 billion during the quarter compared with revenues of $1.44 billion a year ago. The company said that strength in emerging IT areas, including UC and collaboration, helped to stave off legacy voice and technology declines for the company.