Nortel CEO Mike Zafirovski praised Roese, who most recently served as vice president and CTO for networking technologies at Irvine, Calif.-based Broadcom Corp. Zafirovski said in a statement that Roese "will represent the heart and soul" of innovation at Nortel.
Roese, who takes over the job June 28, will oversee more than 12,000 engineers and developers.
He has a 20-year background in networking and security. In addition to his role at Broadcom, Roese also served as both deputy CTO and CTO at Enterasys Networks Inc. in Andover, Mass., and was a key architect of that company's SecureFast Switching technology when it was still Cabletron Systems Inc.
As Nortel's CTO, Roese will be responsible for the company's overall research and development strategy and execution. He will also work closely with Nortel Chief Strategy Officer George Reidel on determining market opportunities, developing emerging technologies and working on strategic partnerships.
Roese will operate out of Nortel's R&D offices in Ottawa.