With the strength of one of the world’s largest telecommunications corporations as both shareholder and strategic partner, the Pacific Crossing leadership team uses their deep expertise in technology and telecommunications to plan and execute the company’s global business strategy and drive sustainable growth.

Pacific Crossing is founded on a legacy of superior system design and operational quality and is dedicated to providing state-of-the-art capacity to the wholesale market by offering sector leading low-latency and unmatched reliability at competitive prices. Many of the world’s largest and most successful telecommunications companies trust Pacific Crossing to carry capacity and deliver reliable trans-Pacific service to their customers.  

Leadership Team

  • Takahiro Sumimoto

    Chief Executive Officer

    Takahiro Sumimoto was appointed CEO of Pacific Crossing in January 2011. He also serves as Head of Submarine Cable & Carrier Relations at NTT Ltd. since July 2019.  Sumimoto was formerly a VP of NTT America, Inc. and also serves on the Board of Directors of Pacific Crossing.  He previously served as Director of Global Business at NTT Corporation focusing on global telecommunications service planning for enterprises and Tier 1 IP Transit services sales.  He held senior positions at NTT where he was in charge of Global Business Strategic Planning.  He also started NTT Global Telecommunications Services in France while he was with NTT Europe Ltd.  He holds a B.A. degree in Human Geography from the University of Tokyo and an MBA from HEC in France.

  • Kurt E. Johnson

    Chief Financial Officer

    In May 2008, Kurt Johnson was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Pacific Crossing. Johnson brings 40 years of experience as CFO and controller for leading companies in the telecommunications and technology sectors. Johnson represents Pacific Crossing on the North American Submarine Cable Association and the International Cable Protection Committee. Prior to joining Pacific Crossing, Johnson was CFO for semiconductor test company, Inovys Corporation, transitioning the company from an equipment-focused organization to a software-focused service company, leading to the sale of the company to Verigy Limited. Johnson has served as CFO for MediaLive International Holdings, Yipes Enterprise Services Inc., Netcom On-Line Communication Services Inc., Narus Inc., and VPNX.com. He holds a B.S. degree in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley. 

  • Ichiro Kato

    Chief Technology Officer

    Ichiro Kato was appointed Chief Technology Officer of Pacific Crossing in July 2019. He has more than 20 years of experience in the subsea cable industry. He joined NTT in 1996. He has been responsible for the operation and maintenance, design and installation and procurement of its international cables. He started his subsea cable career with China-US,  where he was in charge of Operation and Maintenance of subsea cable systems. The systems he has been involved with include; China-US, Japan-US, APCN2, ASE, APG, and Jupiter. He holds a master’s degree in physics from Keio University in Japan.

  • W. Jeffrey Hunt

    Vice President, Operations

    Jeff Hunt was appointed Vice President of Operations for Pacific Crossing in May 2011. Mr. Hunt has more than 30 years experience in the Electronics, Computer and Telecommunications industry, spanning many different technologies including Automated Test and Manufacturing, Microwave Transmission, Terrestrial DWDM Fiber Optics and Submarine Cable Systems. He has served in several key positions since joining the PC1 project team in January of 2001 including General Manager of Cable Station Operations, Technical Support Engineering Liaison and Director of Provisioning Services. Mr. Hunt also served in key roles previously while at IXC/Broadwing communications including the implementation of new fiber optic network equipment and infrastructure builds and project management of critical system restoration projects.

  • Paul Fernes

    Senior Vice President, Sales

    Paul Fernes was appointed Senior Vice President of Pacific Crossing in May 2007. Fernes has more than 20 years of experience in technology, as well as extensive leadership experience in the North American telecommunications market. He served in key roles at Level 3 Communications Inc. in the New Ventures group as well as Sales and Marketing within the Government, Asian business and Content business units. Fernes has held leadership positions with some of Silicon Valley’s leading companies such as Sun Microsystems and Cypress Semiconductors. Fernes started his career at Alcatel-India as an engineer working on the first digital telephone exchange. He holds a Master of Computer Engineering degree from LC Smith College of Engineering from Syracuse University and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management from North Western University.

  • Masaki Sakamoto

    Senior Vice President, Sales

    Masaki Sakamoto was appointed Senior Vice President of Pacific Crossing in July 2019. Sakamoto has more than 25 years of experience in the telecommunication industry. He joined NTT in 1993 performing various telecom services for enterprise customers until 1997 when Sakamoto started his global business career at NTT  International Transmission Maintenance Center (ITMC). In 2011, he was put in charge of the submarine cable business for the Carrier Relations team in the Global Business Department. He holds a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Yokohama National University in Japan.