BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Avaya has hired Mike Moeller, IBM’s director of external relations, to lead global communications, reporting into CMO Mark Wilson.

Moeller is slated to begin work at Avaya on July 1, confirmed a company spokesperson. It is understood that he will join as VP of corporate comms in charge of brand, executive, internal, external and analyst relations, based in Santa Clara. 

He currently has global responsibility over several segments of IBM’s external relations, in addition to core aspects of its Smarter Planet strategy.

Prior to IBM, Moeller was director of corporate PR at Xerox for three years and director of corporate media relations at HP for four years.

After delaying its $1 billion IPO last year, Avaya is expected to go public later this year. The US telecoms company reported more than $5 billion in revenues last year.