CUPERTINO, CA: Former Juniper Networks comms leader Michael Busselen will join Seagate Technology at the start of next year as global head of communications.
Busselen will begin his new role on January 1 and report to Scott Horn, VP of global marketing at Seagate. As VP of corporate communications, he will oversee PR, analyst relations, and executive communications for the data storage provider.
Seagate’s communications team has more than 20 staffers around the world, Busselen said. He will lead the group from Cupertino, California.
Busselen will replace senior corporate communications director Brian Ziel, who has left Seagate after more than 14 years at the company. The corporate communications VP role is new, Busselen explained.
Prior to this, Busselen was VP of corporate communications at Juniper Networks since late 2012. He departed Juniper in May. His successor, Lee Flanagin, left after three months in the job, and the company is not planning to fill the role.
"Juniper got a new CEO and CMO after I joined. We worked together for a few months and I decided to take a break and find something else to do," Busselen said.
Busselen’s priority at Seagate will be to raise the company’s profile among a wider group of customers, including both consumers and businesses, he explained.
Seagate has more than 52,000 employees globally, making it one of the largest companies in Silicon Valley, Busselen said.
"For much of its 33 years of existence, [Seagate] has not been highly visible. Most people when they think of Silicon Valley don’t think of Seagate," he said. "Like other big tech players, the world is changing, and this creates an opportunity to reach more customers."
Before Juniper, Busselen was CCO and SVP of global external affairs at McAfee. He also worked at electronics manufacturing company Solectron and FleishmanHillard.
