To riff Supertramp, which once sang "dreamer, nothing but a dreamer", how about Carly Fiorina as the next CEO of Nortel Networks? Yeah, yeah, it's a pipedream but she does have plenty of experience running large, mutli-national companies and she knows the telecom industry from 20 years at AT&T and Lucent.
The problem - aside from her tarnished reputation and $21.1-million of severance money to bide her time - is Fiorina is not really an operations person, which is what Nortel needs these days. If Nortel wanted a go-go salesperson to jump-start growth, Fiorina might be a candidate. These days, however, Nortel CFO Peter Currie appears to be in line to be the next CEO when Bill Owens steps aside.
As for Fiorina, I wouldn't rule out a political appointment given her Republican allegiances and generous donations to George W.'s presidential campaign. She already has some ties to Washington after the White House appointed her to the U.S. Space Commission last year to advise it on the country's space science agenda and contribute a broad range of high-tech expertise.