Nokia’s chairman Risto Siilasmaa will step down in April 2020, and will be replaced by current vice chairman and former executive vice president of networks Sari Baldauf.
Siilasmaa has been a board member since 2008, and has been chair since 2012. He was also interim CEO from 2013 to 2014.
In a statement, Siilasmaa said: “During my time as Board Chair, we have repositioned Nokia as a world-leading network technology business. This has included the sale of the Nokia mobile devices business to Microsoft, taking full ownership of the NSN telecom infrastructure business, and the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent. I would like to thank everyone at Nokia for their determination and dedication.
“We are in the midst of another transition now, with the historic move to 5G. While we know that Nokia is facing some short-term challenges as the technology matures, I am confident that we have the right actions underway to address those issues. Many parts of Nokia are performing well, and we are delivering on our strategy to diversify into enterprise markets and build our software business.”
Baldauf added: “Risto and I have worked closely together since I was named vice chair in May. I see a clear opportunity to help create long-term shareholder value and look forward to continuing to work closely with the board and [Nokia CEO] Rajeev Suri. Rajeev and his team are working hard to address both the short-term issues and strengthen Nokia’s longer-term value drivers.”
Baldauf’s appointment is subject to her re-election to the board at Nokia’s AGM on April 8 2020.
