* Gerke keeps the helm at Embarq
By Brian Santo

Embarq Corp. said it will keep Tom Gerke as chief executive. Gerke had been serving as interim CEO since December. Embarq has been looking for a CEO since its former parent, Sprint Nextel Corp., hired away Dan Hesse. Prior to being named interim CEO, Gerke had been general counsel at Embarq.

* CedarPoint strengthens sales organization
By Brian Santo

Cedar Point Communications promoted Chris Zanyk to vice president, North American Region and CALA, and added two new executives to its North American sales force.

Zanyk, a 12-year veteran of telecommunications sales, previously had served as managing director, Latin America for Cedar Point. In his new role, he will be responsible for accelerating the company’s growth within the cable, telco, university and enterprise markets in North America, Central America, Latin America (CALA), and the Caribbean.

In addition, Cedar Point announced that Ed Flannery, a founder of Opticom and a veteran of two dozen years in the networking industry, and Bart Green, who most recently was vice president of sales for OneVoice, have been named to the positions of vice president, sales, with responsibilities for the Northeast and Western regions, respectively.

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