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Ever on the fast track

Sonia Chopra

For Clarence J Chandran, the answer to the question, "What do you want your Internet to be?" -- the keystone of the advertising campaign of Nortel Networks -- is easy.

"I want the Internet to be faster, more powerful, more reliable, more secure and profitable for everyone," he says.

"I want the company to be number one." That means Nortel has to beat its own track record of being one of the most successful companies in the world.

An understandable goal, coming from the executive vice-president. He is also the president, service provider and carrier group of the company. Nortel is already number one in market share for sales of optical equipment. More than 75 per cent of all backbone Internet traffic in North America is carried on Nortel optical networking equipment.

Chandran, 51, who joined Nortel 15 years ago in Canada, has held two vice-presidentships and a director of marketing position, before the company transferred him to Florida and then Raleigh, North Carolina.

Chandran is modest about his job and responsibilities and talks understatedly about holding the second-in-command position.

"I report to the CEO and am currently managing Nortel's Service Provider and Carrier Group; I'm also responsible for the development and sale of Nortel's Optical, Wireless and Data Portfolios," he says.

But it is clear he enjoys the challenges and relishes overturning obstacles.

""I'm enjoying my current challenge, and looking forward to continuing growing," Chandran says. "It's a great place to work at the moment. The emergence of the Internet and the convergence of the telecommunications and IT industries is driving strong growth for our optical and data portfolios. We are committed to building the new 'high performance Internet', something consumers are really demanding."

Nortel is a world leader in optical networks, which is a technology at the heart of the Internet. The annual Nortel sales of optical equipment went up 80 per cent in 1999 and are projected to exceed $ 10 billion in 2000.

Nortel, recently announced $ 600 million in investments that will more than triple manufacturing capacity for optical networking equipment. The company estimates that 34 of the last 40 national or international major network builds were based on Nortel optical solutions. Their long-term goal is to double the capacity of fiber-optic systems and halve cost every nine months.

Chandran has amassed a long list of achievements at the company, where he has held several key positions.

In the past, he served as Nortel Networks' Group Executive for Asia, being responsible for all business interests in Asia and the South Pacific. He was also president of Nortel Caribbean and Latin America five years ago. He played a major role in the pre-merger Northern Telecom Canada, being successively vice-president, sales, service, and engineering; vice-president, major accounts; and director of marketing.

He was the first recipient of Nortel Networks' worldwide Award of Excellence in February 1990. He was also recognized for his work with Global Enterprise Customers, since he'd helped successfully roll out sophisticated applications around the world.

Chandran has made other contributions too. In 1992, Canada's secretary of state for external affairs appointed him to the Tri-Lateral Task Force on Higher Education, a collaboration between the United States, Mexico and Canada supporting the North American Free Trade Agreement legislation.

He is also a member of the Board of Visitors at the Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill; and a member of the North Carolina Partnership for Excellence in Education.

Chandran began his career in technology at age 20, after his family migrated to Toronto, Canada. His first job was with Shell; five years later, he joined Bell Canada. In 1998, the Indo Canada Chamber of Commerce recognized him as "professional of the year" in Canada.

His multicultural background and exposure to places gave him the ability to assimilate into new circles quickly.

"My soul is Indian, my heart is Canadian and my head and drive are American," Chandran said.

But having his feet firmly rooted in values, made him strong.

"My father always conveyed to me that I have to face reality, know who you are and where you come from and be proud of it," said Chandran, adding that these lessons were usually imparted while hiking at 10,000 feet altitudes.

His father was an Indian army officer, who married a Pakistani woman who insisted in giving birth to her son in her parent's home in Karachi, Pakistan. His father had to get special permission from his superiors.

"An army brat," he spent his early years in various cities of northern India. He especially remembers Jalandhar and Pathankot. In 1969, the family left India to seek a better life in Toronto, Canada.

The family's ties to India remain very strong.

"The culture is deeply engraved in us. My mother, though westernized, still wears a sari. Both my aunts, who married French men, wear saris too," said Chandran, who has aunts and uncles settled all over Europe and Canada.

Last year, his parents, both in their 70's, went to Bombay to celebrate the 256th anniversary of the Maratha Light Infantry, the unit his father had served for over 20 years. In 1996, Chandran also visited India, where he no longer has family and friends. His only other sibling, a sister, also lives in Toronto, Canada.

On settling in Canada, Chandran was caught up in the newness of the place and events.

"There was this incredible excitement and I was fortunate to some degree that, being in the army, we used to travel and live in strange places, join school in the middle of the term," said Chandran, adding that his family instilled in him "lots of self-confidence".

"I was comfortable in a foreign environment but it was still tough to find my way around."

Still, Chandran looks back at that time with awe.

"It was a very young country and charismatic government led by Prime Minister Trudeau, trying hard to promote bilingualism and ethnicity," he said.

In 1975, he married Beverley, a Canadian of Irish descent. The couple has three children, aged 20, 18, and 16. Initially his parents were a bit disappointed at his choice of career.

"When I got my first job, my mother was shocked that I was going to be working for someone. She had expected me to be self-employed," Chandran said.

He is not self-employed but he is a firm believer in the mottoes, "Depend on yourself -- and don't panic."

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