Kodak Hires President, COO for Digital Products Push

Eastman Kodak Co. on Wednesday named former Lucent Technologies Inc. executive Patricia Russo president and chief operating officer as the company tries to make a profit on a $5-billion investment in digital imaging.

Russo, 48, will run Kodak’s consumer business, which includes the digital operations and film sales for the biggest photography company, Chief Executive Daniel Carp said.

Russo resigned from Lucent in August after her position as head of the main business of the largest maker of telephone equipment was eliminated.

Kodak plans to increase sales of its digital products, which include cameras, photo finishing and online film processing, to about 45% of revenue by 2005. The operations accounted for about 23% of sales in the last quarter.

Kodak’s profit declined in the second half of last year and analysts expect it to be down again in the first quarter because of slower film sales.

The company lost $60 million on consumer digital products such as cameras and CDs in the fourth quarter. Digital photography, which doesn’t use film, is expected to become the main method of photography as the technology improves and costs drop.

In October, Kodak said it would consolidate operations into consumer and commercial groups, with Carp running the consumer business.

Russo will remain as nonexecutive chairwoman of Avaya Inc., a maker of telephone equipment that was spun off last year from Lucent.

Rochester, N.Y.-based Kodak’s shares closed up 4 cents at $42.81 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Shares of Basking Ridge, N.J.-based Avaya fell $1.03 to close at $10.44, also on the Big Board.