Simon Beresford-Wylie replaced by Indian Rajeev Suri as CEO of Nokia Siemens Networks

Insider Suri moves to Espoo from New Delhi; Beresford-Wylie will now focus on family and stamps

Rajeev Suri

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Nokia Siemens Networks, a leading provider of communications services with global operations, announced unexpectedly on Tuesday that its CEO Simon Beresford-Wylie will leave the company at the end of November.
      Briton Beresford-Wylie will leave the mobile phone company Nokia’s Group Executive Board already on September 30th.
      “For months I have discussed the matter with Chairman of the Board of NSN Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo. I entered the telecommunications field 27 years ago, when push-button dials were just being introduced to landline phones. Imagine that we now have workers who were born around that time”, Beresford-Wylie laughs.
     
Beresford-Wylie will be succeeded by 41-year-old Indian Rajeev Suri as the Nokia Siemens Networks CEO. Suri currently leads the Services business of Nokia Siemens Networks and sits on the company’s Board of Directors.
      Suri will nevertheless not inherit Beresford-Wylie’s seat on the Board of the parent company Nokia.
      “This is an excellent opportunity. After the transition process the company is in great shape, we have leaned a lot, and we have a great product range”, Suri enthuses.
     
By the transition process Suri refers to the combining of the networks arms of Nokia and Siemens, which resulted in axeing thousands of jobs.
      Beresford-Wylie gives an assurance that his leaving the company is his own decision and has nothing to do with the NSN business activities.
     
Still, the fact remains that the company’s profitability did not strengthen during Beresford-Wylie’s time at the company's helm as planned. On the other hand, the development of the networks market has been significantly slower than was expected three years ago.
      In the future Beresford-Wylie plans to spend more time with his family and his beloved hobby of collecting stamps. Beresford-Wylie, who is a dual UK-Australian citizen, also plans to leave Finland and move back to Great Britain .
      “Right now the most important thing is to see what it is like to be a family man and to spend a lot of time with my wife and my youngest son. In the future I would prefer a job where I would not have to travel so much”, Beresford-Wylie says.
     
Suri, who first moved to Finland almost exactly ten years ago, will return from New Delhi with his wife and two children.
      His office will be in the NSN headquarters in Espoo’s Karaportti.
      This is the second time in Suri’s career that he follows in Beresford-Wylie’s footsteps.
      When Beresford-Wylie was appointed as the Executive Vice President and General Manager for Nokia Networks in February 2005, Suri assumed his previous position as the head of Nokia Networks in the Asia-Pacific region.
     
The two large telecommunications solutions suppliers, NSN and Ericsson, have both announced a change of their CEOs within a short space of time.
      As of January 1st 2010, Swedish Ericsson’s new CEO is to be the company’s present Chief Financial Officer, Hans Vestberg.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Nokia Siemens Networks get going amid reduced market expectations (3.4.2007)

Links:
  NSN Press Release
  Simon Beresford-Wylie (Wikipedia)

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