Keysight names new COO; announces CTO’s retirement

Dhanasekaran (pictured) has been president of Keysight's largest business, the Communications Solutions Group, since 2017.

The company also announced that Chief Technology Officer Jay Alexander will retire in late 2021

As COO, Dhanasekaran has responsibility for growing orders and increasing annual recurring revenue for the company.

He oversees the functions that contribute to these objectives, including market and technology research; development of new technologies, products, and solutions; services; marketing; and sales.

He will continue to report to Ron Nersesian, chairman and chief executive officer.

The company says that the COO organisation will bring together key functions of the company, taking a holistic and end-to-end approach to best serve Keysight's customers and deliver results.

"Satish is a strategic and driven executive with a track record of enabling customer success and driving high performance," said Nersesian. "His background makes him uniquely qualified to lead the critical functions that make up the Keysight COO organisation and drive further value creation for all of our stakeholders."

Dhanasekaran joined the company in 2006. Prior to leading the Communications Solutions Group, he managed the company's wireless business. He has over 20 years of experience in the communications industry spanning business leadership, product, sales, marketing, and business development.

Until his retirement, Jay Alexander will support Dhanasekaran in his new role and help determine the go-forward leadership of the critical teams within the CTO organisation.

"Jay has given so much to the company over the last 34 years and made countless contributions to our technology leadership and the success of our customers," said Nersesian. "Personally, it's been a joy and privilege to work with someone as talented, intelligent, and caring as Jay. I know he will be greatly missed across the company when he retires."

Alexander has been with the company since 1986.

He spent many of those years working in the company's oscilloscope business, in roles ranging from R&D engineer to vice president and general manager.

As Keysight's CTO since 2014, Alexander has been responsible for central hardware and software technology development, including the PathWave software platform and other facets of Keysight's software-centric solutions strategy.

He holds 24 U.S. patents, all of which come from his time with the company.