Vowing to take the company to the next level, Mike Zafirovski was introduced today as Nortel Networks’ new president and CEO.

Zafirovski, who left Motorola in January one year after Ed Zander was named CEO of the wireless vendor, succeeds Bill Owens, who came into the roles after the company fired Frank Dunn in light of an investigation into the company’s earnings reports. Zafirovski officially begins on November 15, though at a press conference today, said he has been doing a lot of reading and studying over the last several weeks.

Harry Pearce, chairman of Nortel’s board said the company initially contacted Zafirovski a couple of months ago and believes it has the best executive to lead the company forward after several years of turmoil.

“We looked globally in conducting this search, and we spent an enormous amount of time sorting through a number of potential candidates,” he said during the press conference.

Pearce also spent much of his time today thanking Owens, who took over at a time when the company was on the verge of being de-listed and teetering on the brink of financial ruin.

“Bill Owens was the right person at the right time,” he said. “The company was in absolute crises and was very much at risk. I can assure you no one was lining up for that job. These were very serious issues that arouse that needed to be addressed and let me assure you they were addressed.”

Owens for his part said he wasn’t a candidate for the permanent Nortel CEO role nor did he want to be considered, feeling the company needed a younger executive to take the reigns. He also refuted initial reports that he had been asked to step down.

“There was no desire on my part to be a candidate,” he said. “I realize that this is the time for the next phase. I was not on that list and I didn’t intend to be on that list.”

Zafirovski, who has headed up seven different divisions and companies for Motorola and General Electric, said he plans to spend the next several months listening and learning. But if anything can be gleaned from his initial comment on Nortel, expect to see a leaner and more focused organization.

Laying out some of his basic thoughts on the company, he said Nortel’s single-digit and low-double-digit margins simply weren’t high enough. He also noted that he was going to take a close look at R&D spending, saying that for a company with as much revenue at Nortel is generating, $1.8 billion in R&D spending should be more focused.

“I can’t wait to get my fingernails dirty,” he said.