Patrick H. Nettles, Ph.D., executive chairman since May 2001, has served as CIENA Corporation's chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer since October 2000. From April 1994 until October 2000, Dr. Nettles served as president, chief executive officer and director of the Company, and as director and chief executive officer from February until April 1994.
    From 1992 until 1994, Dr. Nettles was the executive vice president and chief operating officer of Blyth Holdings Inc., a publicly-held supplier of client/server software. From late 1990 through 1992, Dr. Nettles was president and chief executive officer of Protocol Engines Inc., a development stage enterprise, formed as an outgrowth of Silicon Graphics Inc., and targeted toward very large scale integration based solutions for high-performance computer networking. From 1989 to 1990, Dr. Nettles was chief financial officer of Optilink, a venture start-up that was acquired by DSC Communications.
    Currently Dr. Nettles is a trustee for the California Institute of Technology and a member of the advisory board to the president of Georgia Institute of Technology. Additionally, he serves on the board of trustees of the Center for Excellence in Education and was elected to the board of directors at Axcelis Technologies, Inc.