Ciena Government Solutions, Inc. (CGSI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ciena® (NYSE: CIEN), has named Rhett A. Hernandez,  David L. Peed,  Richard A. Spires and Brett T. Williams to its Government Advisory Board (GAB).  The four appointees bring extensive experience implementing state-of-the-art networking initiatives on civilian, research and education, state and municipal networks. The new members will bring strategic insights to the GAB, established in 2005, and support to CGSI, helping advance its success as a trusted provider of world-class networking solutions to public sector customers.

Key Facts:

  • Retired Lieutenant General Rhett A. Hernandez served nearly 40 years in the United States Army as a Commander, Senior Staff Officer and Strategist, focusing on combat operations and cyber security. He most recently served as Commanding General, U.S. Army Cyber Command, Second Army, at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Mr. Hernandez also served in numerous command and key staff assignments, including Deputy Chief of Staff for Army Operations, Commander Human Resources Command and Operations Division, J-39, the Joint Staff.
  • David L. Peed is currently Senior Vice President for the Federal division of Increditek. He is the former Vice President & General Manager for CGSI, where he was instrumental in the growth of the organization during his nine year tenure with Ciena. Under his leadership, CGSI became a major player in critical networks for the U.S. Department of Defense, Internet2, as well as many others in the government community. Mr. Peed has more than 30 years of experience in the telecom industry, including at Bell Atlantic, the United States House of Representatives and Qwest Federal.
  • Richard A. Spires currently serves as CEO of Resilient Network Systems, a software firm that provides secure connections between end-users and the cloud. Previously, during his career with the U.S. government, he served as the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Chief Information Officer, Vice Chairman of the Federal Government CIO Council, and the Co-Chairman of the Committee for National Security Systems (CNSS), which sets standards for the U.S. Government’s classified systems.
  • Retired Major General Brett Williams has a decorated 33-year career with the United States Air Force. He served as Director of Operations J-3, U.S. Cyber Command and Director of Communications, U.S. Pacific Command. He is also an experienced combat fighter pilot, having commanded from the squadron to wing levels in the U.S. Air Force. Mr. Williams also served in a number of key staff positions, including Director of Operations, U.S. Air Force.
  • Ciena’s GAB provides insight and analysis into the complex government market, ensuring that CGSI’s offerings and customer support are aligned with the needs of its public sector customers. CGSI leverages Ciena’s portfolio of next generation software, platforms and services that addresses the needs of U.S. federal, civilian, defense and research and education networks.
  • The appointees join the following current Government Advisory Board members: Lt. Gen. Kenneth A. Minihan, former director of the National Security Agency, and Cindy E. Moran, former Director for Network Services for the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA).

Executives Quote:

  • “These      four individuals are proven leaders in the U.S. Government and have extensive      backgrounds in securing highly sensitive networks. The vast amount of      knowledge they bring will help strengthen CGSI’s position as a trusted      advisor to the United States government and its mission-critical networks.”
    -          Jeff Verrant, Vice President and General Manager, CGSI

Supporting Resources:

About CGSICiena Government Solutions, Inc. (CGSI) is a wholly owned Ciena subsidiary serving the unique networking infrastructure needs of the government sector. CGSI helps government agencies meet the unique needs of government networks and advance their missions by providing expertise and guidance on how to leverage the network as a strategic asset.

About Ciena
Ciena (NYSE: CIEN) is the network specialist. We collaborate with customers worldwide to unlock the strategic potential of their networks and fundamentally change the way they perform and compete. Ciena leverages its deep expertise in packet and optical networking and distributed software automation to deliver solutions in alignment with its OPn architecture for next-generation networks. We enable a high-scale, programmable infrastructure that can be controlled and adapted by network-level applications, and provide open interfaces to coordinate computing, storage and network resources in a unified, virtualized environment. For updates on Ciena news, follow us on Twitter @Ciena or on LinkedIn. Investors are encouraged to review the Investors section of our website at www.ciena.com/investors, where we routinely post press releases, SEC filings, recent news, financial results, and other announcements. From time to time we exclusively post material information to this website along with other disclosure channels that we use.

Note to Ciena Investors
Forward-looking statements. This press release contains certain forward-looking statements based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are based on information available to the Company as of the date hereof; and Ciena's actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied, due to risks and uncertainties associated with its business, which include the risk factors disclosed in its Report on Form 10-K, which Ciena filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 21, 2015. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding Ciena's expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future and can be identified by forward-looking words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "should," "will," and "would" or similar words. Ciena assumes no obligation to update the information included in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.