Aastra has announced a raft of senior appointments to help drive regional growth and fortify the telephony vendor's Centres of Excellence (CoEs).

Pierre-Alexandre Fuhrmann and Paulo Francisco have been unveiled as the company's joint vice presidents of global technology and development. Francisco will be based in Aastra's Toronto headquarters while Fuhrmann will work from the company's Parisian office.

The two have been tasked with accelerating innovation in the vendor's CoEs, which are based across North America and Europe. The Centres work collaboratively to develop Aastra products for both the enterprise and SME markets.

President Tony Shen said: “Paulo and Pierre-Alexandre bring a wealth of experience, technical and creative expertise coupled with a valuable understanding of Aastra’s platforms and our customers’ requirements. Aastra has made a number of acquisitions and has invested significantly in research and development. Our focus will now be on integration and convergence strategies for all Aastra’s platforms and applications and I am excited that Paulo and Pierre-Alexandre will lead this new initiative.”

The vendor has also announced the appointments of two regional vice presidents who will both be based at its Zurich office. Company co-founder Hugh Scholaert will assume responsibility for Aastra's operations in the Middle East, Africa and western Europe, which includes the UK, France, Italy and the Nordic, Baltic and Benelux countries.

Martin Derungs will lead the company in the central and southern Europe, assuming responsibility for countries including Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, the Balkan region and Russia. Derungs has been with the vendor for a number of years and has held various roles, including a recent stint in charge of international business development.

The appointments have been fuelled in part by the Canadian vendor's acquisition of the enterprise communications arm of Swedish mobile titan Ericsson earlier this year. The deal has significantly increased Aastra's presence in the EMEA, most notably in the region's emerging markets.

Shen added: "The appointment of Regional Group Presidents is a further step forward as Aastra looks to build its business, especially in regions offering strong growth potential, and to insure that we are close to our customers."