Marc Graff

About Marc Graff

Marc Graff joined Ciena in August 2025 as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. His north star? Creating owner value. “My job is to make sure we’re driving value for everybody—first by delivering for customers, and by ensuring the market recognizes the strength of our business.”

Marc views his remit through two parallel lenses—customer and owner. “Our customers have choices where to buy. Our owners do, too,” he says. “Our sales team helps customers choose Ciena’s solutions. I help investors choose Ciena. We’re both selling a compelling, investment-worthy portfolio.”

Day to day, he concentrates on a few big levers: capture more value in the market by improving gross margin performance, and accelerate working capital, especially inventory, so owner capital is put to its best use.

A universal principal of his job is stewardship. “We never want to constrain innovation,” Marc says. “My job is to make sure the resources are there to create our future—then be disciplined about where we buy, build, or return capital.”

When asked what he likes best about his job, Marc points to the evolving landscape of technology and its applications. “Learning curves can be steep, but that’s what I enjoy—learning and building new muscles.”

Approachable yet focused, as a leader, he invites debate and expects ideas from everyone at the table. “I’m pretty curious,” he says. “I use data and analytics to channel that curiosity. From curiosity comes debate, and the best results happen when we exchange ideas openly.” He credits Ciena’s relationship-driven culture as a force multiplier for this approach, enabling him to learn quickly in a new domain. “I like what I’m doing with the people I’m doing it with.”

That focus on people is a lesson Marc learned early on and has carried with him throughout his career. Marc still recalls his first job as a teenager at Burger King, where he discovered the importance of enjoying the people you work alongside. “We spend so much of our time at work with colleagues. If you don’t enjoy who you’re working with, what are you doing?”

He credits Bob Swan, former CFO and CEO of Intel, as one of his most impactful mentors, who imparted the importance of teams. “It’s not just what you do—it’s who you do it with. That matters. I don’t know anyone who says, ‘I love my job, but I can’t stand the people I work with.’ Yet you often hear the opposite - many people stick around because of the people they work with. Your team makes all the difference.” It’s a perspective that reinforces why Ciena’s culture resonates with him so strongly.

Before Ciena, Marc was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Altera Corporation, where he helped lead the majority sale of the asset from Intel to Silver Lake Partners. He spent 28 years at Intel Corporation in senior roles, including CFO and COO of Intel’s Datacenter and Artificial Intelligence Group.

Marc earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Colorado at Boulder and an MBA in finance and strategy from the University of Michigan. He lives in Maryland with his wife and has two grown children on the East Coast. Outside of work, he enjoys scuba diving trips with his family, woodworking, and the occasional round of golf.