Dive Brief:

• Intel alum Marc Graff will receive a $1.9 million cash bonus upon taking the top financial seat for high-speed optical networking firm Ciena, with the move effective Aug. 1, the company said Thursday in a securities filing.
• Graff, who most recently served as CFO for semiconductor company Altera, is also set to receive a one-time replacement equity grant with a target delivered value of $10.4 million, both of which are intended “to partially compensate Mr. Graff for the value of certain near-term cash and equity incentives and certain long- term equity incentive compensation that he forfeited upon resignation from his prior employer,” according to the filing. One quarter of the grant will vest a year following his becoming CFO, while the remainder will vest over a three-year period, the company said.
• Graff will succeed 18-year company veteran James Moylan in the position, the Hanover, Maryland-based company said in a press release. 

Dive Insight:

Moylan, who announced his intent to retire last September, will stay on until Aug. 28 to assist with a smooth transition, the company said.  

“For the past 18 years and an incredible 70 earnings calls, Jim has been an incredible partner and member of our executive team with a lengthy list of significant contributions to the growth and the performance of our business,” CEO Gary Smith said of Moylan’s tenure as CFO during the company’s most recent earnings call on June 5.

Prior to Altera, which he joined in January 2024 as its finance chief, Moylan’s successor Graff logged a 26-year career at software giant Intel, serving in such roles as its corporate VP, CFO and chief operating officer, data platforms group, and VP, head of financial planning & analysis, according to his LinkedIn profile.

As well as the $1.9 million cash bonus and one-time equity grant, Graff will also receive an annual base salary of $650,000 as Ciena’s CFO, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He will also be eligible for an annual target bonus opportunity of 100% of his base salary. For fiscal 2026, Graff will also receive an equity award with a target delivered value of $3.9 million, the company said.

The CFO swap comes as the optical networking firm is looking to take advantage of a rise in data center and cloud spending driven by the artificial intelligence boom. For its Q2 of fiscal 2025 ended May 3, Ciena saw a nearly 24% jump in net revenue year-over-year to reach $1.1 billion — with revenues from cloud providers a “key driver,” CEO Smith said during the company’s earnings call. Ciena also reported GAAP net income of $9 million for the quarter, compared to a net loss of $16.8 million for the prior year period, according to its earnings results published June 5.

The company achieved record direct cloud provider revenue for its Q2, a segment which represented 38% of total revenue, Smith said, according to a transcript. The results are “really highlighting the accelerating investments in AI infrastructure and our leadership in addressing this demand,” Smith said, noting that three out of the five top customers for the quarter were cloud providers, underscoring their sustained investments in AI infrastructure and network expansion.”

Data center capital expenditures skyrocketed by 53% to reach $134 billion in the first three months of this year, CFO Dive sister publication CIO Dive reported, citing a survey by Dell’Oro research group. The growth was primarily driven by “hyperscaler spending” on AI infrastructure with AWS, Google, Meta and Microsoft —  the four companies with the largest cloud footprints — accounting for 44% of Q1 spending in the space, according to the report. 

However, as Ciena aimed to capitalize on the swell in spending, the optical networking provider also faced headwinds from the shifting tariff environment in its Q2, CFO Moylan said during the earnings call. Amid the “dynamic” tariff environment, combined with a need for Ciena to adjust its billing and customer systems, the company “absorbed a net impact to our bottom line in the mid-single-digit millions of dollars in the quarter,” Moylan said.

The company did not immediately respond to requests for comment.