New senior leader to strengthen channel partner execution, simplify partner motions, and scale outcomes for enterprise customers

Lumen Technologies (NYSE:LUMN) today announced that Jim Ortbals will join the company as Senior Vice President of Global Partner Solutions (GPS). Ortbals will lead Lumen's channel partner strategy and execution, with responsibility for strengthening how the company engages, enables, and scales outcomes through this critical part of its commercial approach.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260413468127/en/

Lumen Senior Vice President of Global Partner Solutions Jim Ortbals

"As we transform Lumen into the trusted network for AI, we need a partner ecosystem built for speed, rigor and scale," said Lumen Chief Revenue Officer Jeff Sharritts. "Jim brings proven experience building and scaling global channel organizations, connecting commercial strategy to results. His leadership will help simplify our partner motions, sharpen execution, and accelerate growth by delivering better outcomes for enterprise customers."

"I'm excited to join Lumen at a time when enterprises are demanding tangible business outcomes and partners play an increasingly critical role in delivering them," said Ortbals. "Lumen's momentum and investments in our digital platform create a strong foundation for partner-led growth. My focus is to simplify and strengthen our channel partner motions so we consistently engage, enable, and support partners with operating rigor and clear accountability."

Ortbals brings more than 25 years of experience growing global channel and partner organizations across complex technology and services environments. He has held leadership roles at Cisco, VMware, Zscaler and others, with a track record of connecting channel partner strategy to operational rigor in support of customer outcomes.

Lumen is undergoing a multi-year transformation, simplifying how it operates and modernizing its network and digital capabilities to meet rising demand for secure, scalable connectivity in the AI era. Partners are central to extending those capabilities to enterprise customers.

To learn more about Lumen's Channel Partner Program, visit Channel Partner Program | Lumen.

About Lumen Technologies

Lumen is unleashing the world's digital potential. We ignite business growth by connecting people, data, and applications – quickly, securely, and effortlessly. As the trusted network for AI, Lumen uses the scale of our network to help companies realize AI's full potential. From metro connectivity to long-haul data transport to our edge cloud, security, managed service, and digital platform capabilities, we meet our customers' needs today and as they build for tomorrow.

For news and insights visit news.lumen.com, LinkedIn: /lumentechnologies, X: lumentechco, Facebook: /lumentechnologies, Instagram: @lumentechnologies and YouTube: /lumentechnologies. Lumen and Lumen Technologies are registered trademarks of Lumen Technologies LLC in the United States. Lumen Technologies LLC is a wholly owned affiliate of Lumen Technologies, Inc.

Forward-Looking Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including statements regarding management's expectations with respect to our business, strategy and operations as well as statements identified by words such as "estimates," "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "plans," "intends," "will," and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are not promises nor guarantees of future results, are based on our current expectations only and are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including those described in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, as updated in our other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. Actual results may differ materially from those anticipated by us in these statements due to several factors, including those referenced in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260413468127/en/

Media Contact:

Anita J. Gomes

Anita.Gomes@lumen.com

+1 858-229-8538

Investor Contact:

Jim Breen, CFA

Investor.Relations@lumen.com

+1 603-404-7003

Lumen Appoints Jim Ortbals Senior Vice President of Global Partner Solutions