By: H. Lee Murphy

With its CEO suddenly gone, the red ink is mounting at telecom equipment maker Westell Technologies Inc.

Aurora-based Westell reported a loss of $5.5 million, or 8 cents per diluted share, for its fiscal first quarter, ended June 30. That compares with a year-earlier loss of $900,000, or 1 cent a share. In the wake of losing a key customer, the old BellSouth Corp., which merged into AT&T Inc., the company reported a 35% decline in revenue to $38.1 million.

CEO Thomas E. Mader, who arrived in January 2007 and moved production from Aurora to China to reduce costs and overhead, resigned July 8.

In an analysts call Thursday, interim CEO Bernard F. Sergesketter, a company director from 2000 to 2007, promised to reveal Westell’s future plans at its Sept. 18 annual meeting.

Continues here: »www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/···id=30322