Espoo, Finland – Stephen
Elop has been appointed Nokia president and CEO, replacing Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo.
Elop, currently head of
Microsoft’s business division, will start with the company Sept. 21.
Jorma Ollila, chairman
of the Nokia board, said in a press conference that the company started a “CEO
search process” in late May of this year.
“It has been an
extensive process with the whole board involved actively … In the last one
month, after we had looked at several internal candidates as well as several
external candidates, we narrowed in on Stephen Elop.”
Ollila added, “The board
felt that now is the right time to accelerate the company renewal to bring in
some new executive leadership with slightly different skills and strengths in
order to drive the company success. We believe that Stephen has the right
industry experience and the leadership skills to realize what is the full
potential of this great company that we love.”
Kallasvuo will leave his current position of
president/CEO on Sept. 20, and his position on the Nokia board of directors
immediately. He will continue to chair the Board of Nokia Siemens Networks in a
non-executive capacity, the company said.
Kallasvuo will be given
a severance payment of 18 months gross base salary and a target incentive of
4.6 million euro. He will also receive as compensation the fair market value of
the 100,000 restricted Nokia shares granted to him in 2007, which vest on Oct.
1, Nokia said.
