Russ Esmacher

Russ Esmacher is Senior Vice President, Strategy, Marketing, and Corporate Development at Infinera. In this role, he is responsible for shaping and driving long-term growth by leading the company’s strategic planning processes and supporting the execution of its growth strategies.

Mr. Esmacher has over 20 years of experience in sales leadership, business development, technical marketing, and organizational restructuring. Prior to joining Infinera, Mr. Esmacher was Senior Vice President of IP/Optical Networks, North America at Nokia from 2018 to 2021. Prior to that, he served 18 years in a variety of technical leadership roles at Cisco Systems, ascending to Head of Sales, Packet-Optical, Americas. He began his career with optical engineering roles at AFL Telecommunications and Corning Incorporated.

Mr. Esmacher holds a bachelor’s in Material Science & Engineering and a master’s in Material Science & Engineering (Photonics) from Clemson University.