Nepean, Ontario and San Jose, California - May 18, 2000 - JDS Uniphase Corporation (Nasdaq: JDSU and TSE:JDU) today announced the retirement of Kevin Kalkhoven as Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and from the Board of Directors of the Company and the appointment of Jozef Straus as Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Straus will also remain Co-Chairman. Mr. Kalkhoven will remain with the Company as an advisor on strategic matters through the end of its fiscal 2001.
Dr. Straus has served as President and Chief Operating Officer of JDS Uniphase since the Company was formed by the merger of JDS FITEL Inc. and Uniphase Corporation on July 6, 1999. He also served with Mr. Kalkhoven as Co-Chairman of the Company. Dr. Straus co-founded JDS FITEL in 1981 and served as its President and Chief Executive Officer from 1993 until the merger with Uniphase.
Charles J. Abbe has been appointed President and Chief Operating Officer of the Company. Mr. Abbe, the former Chief Executive Officer of Optical Coating Laboratory, Inc., which the Company acquired in February of this year, had been the Company's Senior Operating Officer responsible for its operations around the world.
"JDS Uniphase is in an outstanding position today from the perspective of our financial performance and strength, our market position, our products and our strategy," explained Mr. Kalkhoven. "The Company is solidly on course, there is a very strong team to lead the Company forward, and I feel confident in turning over responsibility for the Company's future to others."
"Kevin has been a major force in our becoming what we are today, and our employees and stockholders owe Kevin a real debt of gratitude," added Dr. Straus. "His vision and energy have been instrumental in the development of JDS Uniphase into an industry leader. While we will miss having Kevin as our CEO, we are more excited than ever about our opportunities and we will continue to build on the forward-looking strategies that have served us so well."
The Company also announced the promotion of Zita Cobb to Executive Vice President for Strategy and Business Development and Anthony R. Muller to Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Ms. Cobb was previously Senior Vice President for Strategy and Integration and was Chief Financial Officer of JDS FITEL and a member of its Board of Directors prior to the merger with Uniphase. Mr. Muller has been the Company's Chief Financial Officer since 1998 and served on the Uniphase Corporation Board of Directors for fourteen years prior to being appointed CFO.
Martin A. Kaplan was appointed non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr. Kaplan, who joined the Uniphase Corporation Board of Directors in 1997 and has 40 years of experience in telecommunications, recently retired as an Executive Vice President of SBC Communications Inc. Earlier, he was President of Network Services for Pacific Bell and he served as a director of Bellcore for ten years.
Kevin Kalkhoven joined Uniphase Corporation in 1992 as President and CEO and oversaw its transformation from a privately held manufacturer of industrial lasers into a publicly held leading global supplier of components and modules for today's advanced fiberoptic telecommunications networks and a member of the NASDAQ 100. While Mr. Kalkhoven served as Chief Executive Officer, the Company's annual sales rate increased over 67-fold from $23 million in fiscal 1991 to the $394 million reported for the quarter ended March 31, 2000. As Chief Executive Officer of Uniphase, he oversaw its merger with JDS FITEL in July of 1999 and the emergence of the combined entity as a leader in the fiberoptic components and modules marketplace.
The Company will host a conference call on Thursday, May 18 at 8 a.m. Eastern time at 800-230-1096 (612-288-0329 for international callers.) The replay number is 800-475-6701 (320-365-3844 for international callers), code 518424. The call will also be webcasted through the Company's web site, http://www.jdsunph.com/.
JDS Uniphase is a high technology company that designs, develops, manufactures and distributes a comprehensive range of products for the growing fiberoptic communications market. These products are deployed by system manufacturers worldwide to develop advanced optical networks for the telecommunications and cable television industries. JDS Uniphase Corporation is traded on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol JDSU and the exchangeable shares of JDS Uniphase Canada Ltd. are traded on The Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol JDU. More information on JDS Uniphase is available at http://www.jdsunph.com/.
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding the Company's future growth, customer service, opportunities, leadership, and personnel. The statements contained in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934. These statements may be identified by their use of forward-looking terminology such as "believe," "intends," "anticipates," "designed," "expects," "goal" and similar words. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited, to those statements regarding the prospects, strategies, market position and future growth of the Company. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, factors discussed from time to time in reports filed by JDS Uniphase Corporation with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and JDS Uniphase Corporation assumes no future obligation to update the reasons why actual results could differ materially from those projected.