Kevin J. Kennedy

For other people named Kevin Kennedy, see Kevin Kennedy (disambiguation).

Kevin J. Kennedy

Kevin J. Kennedy
Born	1955
Nationality	American
Occupation	Businessman
Known for	Cisco Systems, Avaya Inc., JDSU, Openwave

Kevin J. Kennedy (born 1955) is an American business executive. Kevin is President and CEO of Avaya Inc., a global provider of fully integrated, digital communications software and services. Kevin joined Avaya in January 2009, and leads one of the industry’s strongest executive teams to create superior technology and help customers drive communication experiences.

Highly skilled at orchestrating innovation and change in communications and related industries, Kevin has over four decades of experience at companies including Cisco Systems, JDS Uniphase Corporation, Openwave Systems and AT&T Bell Laboratories. Kevin’s specialization is transforming companies through growth and company reinvention, tapping both organic innovation and mergers and acquisitions. During his career, Kevin has been instrumental in closing over 155 acquisitions and has double-digit asset divestitures.

Kevin currently serves U.S. President Barack Obama as a member of the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee and in 1987, he served as a Congressional Fellow to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology. Kevin was honored by the School of Engineering at Rutgers as their Alumnus of the Year and awarded an Alumni Medal of Excellence in 2006 and previously served on the Board of Regents at Loyola Marymount.

Kevin’s board experience spans both public and private companies across numerous industries including enterprise software, semiconductors, semiconductor test and measurement, intellectual property, cloud infrastructure, real estate investment trust and cancer research. Kevin sits on the boards of Avaya Inc. (privately held), Digital Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: DLR), KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC), and The Canary Foundation, a non-profit organization. Kevin has authored multiple patents including two in enterprise security and has published more than 30 papers on computational methods, data networking and issues of technology management. He is the author of Devil in the Details, published in 2012, and a co-author of Going the Distance: Why Some Companies Dominate and Others Fail.

Kevin holds a B.S. in engineering from Lehigh University as well as M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Engineering from Rutgers University where he served as an adjunct professor from 1982 to 1984. Kevin also holds a Distinguished Leader Executive Certificate from the University of Michigan Ross.