Jorma Ollila to leave post as head of Nokia at end of May 2006

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo will succeed Ollila as Nokia President and CEO

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Jorma Ollila (54), Chairman and CEO of mobile telephone giant Nokia, will step down from his post at the end of May next year.
      Taking over from Ollila will be Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo (52), who currently heads Nokia's mobile phones unit.
      Kallasvuo will take on the post of President and Chief Operating Officer as of the beginning of October this year, replacing the corporation's President Pekka Ala-Pietilä, who is leaving the company. As of June 1, 2006, Kallasvuo's title will be that of President and Chief Executive Officer.
     
Jorma Ollila said at a press conference on Monday that his personal decision to leave the Nokia leadership was made in January, after long consideration. The search for a successor began in March.
      During the process it came out that Ala-Pietilä, a 20-year Nokia veteran, did not want to seek Ollila's post. Finally, the decision of the Board's Corporate Governance and Nomination Committee to appoint Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo was unanimous.
      Kallasvuo, who has had legal training, has worked at different tasks at Nokia since 1980. He has served in posts including that of Chief Financial Officer. He has also headed Nokia's operations in North America.
      Ollila will continue at Nokia as Non-Executive Chairman of the Board. Brushing off the idea of retirement, he said on Monday that he hopes to find new challenges in international business over the next ten years.
     
Jorma Ollila first came to Nokia in 1985. At that time, the company's director-general Kari Kairamo had discovered him at the Finnish branch of Citibank. Ollila has degrees in engineering and in political science.
      In 1991, when he headed Nokia's struggling mobile phone unit, Ollila was approached by Casimir Ehrnrooth to discuss ways to save the company, which was in financial trouble.
      Ollila was given a free hand. He set up his own management team, and the rest is history: now Nokia is the world leader in mobile telephony. There has hence been much speculation about when he would go, and about how the eventual succession was to be ordered.
      Nokia's seemingly unstoppable rise has shown one or two signs of slowing of late, with a slight dip in market share as competitors in the mobile phone branch have caught up with the company's initial design lead, but Nokia remains a very powerful player in the industry, and much interest will surround the changeover at the helm.
      Kallasvuo is effectively the last member of Ollila's initial crack team from the 1990s, following the departure within the past 12 months of figures such as Sari Baldauf, Matti Alahuhta, and now Pekka Ala-Pietilä.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Resignations at Nokia Networks; Baldauf announces departure (3.12.2004)
  Top Nokia executive named President of Kone Corporation (23.11.2004)

Links:
  Nokia Press release: Nokia moves forward with management succession plan

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