David W. Heard

DAVID W. HEARD is President and Chief Executive Officer of Somera
Communications, Inc. He joined Somera in May 2004 with more than 15
years’ experience in telecommunications and with Fortune 500 companies.
His extensive global background and strong relationships with operators
and manufacturers will help establish Somera’s leadership position as a
leading provider of lifecycle management services to support legacy
networks at the lowest cost and greatest return. Before joining Somera,
Mr. Heard served as the President and General Manager, NetworkSwitching
Division of Tekelec, Inc. Prior to Tekelec, Mr. Heard served as
President and Chief Executive Officer of Santera, a telecommunications
infrastructure company that was acquired by Tekelec in 2003. At Santera,
Mr. Heard successfully raised more than $240 million in private capital,
led the company through a strategic merger and integration with Tekelec
and significantly grew annual revenues at Santera. Prior to Santera, Mr.
Heard served as a Vice President of the Access Division at Lucent
Technologies, Inc., and held positions at AT&T Corporation and Chrysler
Motors. Mr. Heard received a BA degree in Production and Operations
Management from Ohio State University, an MBA from the University of
Dayton and an MS degree in Management from Stanford University on a
Sloan Fellowship.