Cogent, Ortega part ways over sales, compensation strategy; Bubeck to fill in

Ernie Ortega, Cogent's chief revenue officer and VP of global sales, will leave the company, reportedly over a disagreement with CEO Dave Schaeffer related to strategy and compensation for part of the provider's sales force.

"While Ortega resigned (and no severance payment will be required), it appears change came down to a difference of opinion regarding the strategy and compensation of some of the sales force," said Jennifer Fritzsche, senior analyst for Wells Fargo, in a research report. "While the training practice of the sales force has been well received, Schaeffer did not believe CCOI was fully realizing the benefit from these higher G&A costs."

A 20-year-plus telecom industry veteran, Ortega came to Cogent in 2013 after a 10-year stint at XO Communications where he served as the executive vice president of sales and marketing.

During his tenure as VP of global sales, Ortega drove the introduction of a new channel partner program to enable it to focus on establishing relationships with national telecom master agents to sell its suite of Ethernet services.

At that time, the service provider said it saw value in supplementing its direct sales efforts via the channel since many of its customers often buy their Internet access and Ethernet transport services through a VAR or agent.

Taking over Ortega's role is Jim Bubeck, a 15-year company veteran, who is set to fill the role on an interim and maybe a permanent basis.

For more:
- see this SEC filing

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