Nokia said it has appointed Pekka Lundmark as president and chief executive officer (CEO) to replace Rajeev Suri. Lundmark is expected to take up the new role on 01 September after leaving his current position as president and CEO of Finnish energy company Fortum. Suri had already told the board that he was considering stepping down at some point.
Before he joined Fortum, Lundmark served as president and CEO of Konecranes, and from 1990-2000 he held several executive positions at Nokia, including vice president of strategy and business development at Nokia Networks.
Suri had already indicated his intention to step down from his role once a solid succession plan was in place, Nokia said. The board has been working closely with Suri to develop internal candidates and identify external ones. He said that after 25 years at Nokia, he now wants to "do something different". He will leave his current position on 31 August but continue to serve as an advisor to the Nokia board until 01 January 2021.
The company said that during Suri's tenure as CEO of Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks, he led a significant consolidation of the telecommunications infrastructure sector, a fundamental turnaround of Nokia Siemens Networks including the disposal of several non-core assets, "massive" growth in the company’s highly profitable patent licensing business, the integration of Alcatel-Lucent, and successful diversification into new software and enterprise markets.
