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Friday, September 10, 2010

Nokia's New President and CEO is Stephen Elop

Image representing Nokia as depicted in CrunchBase
Nokia just announced a change in leadership: Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo is out, Stephen Elop, the current head of Microsoft's Business Division, is in.
That's right, the very Finnish Nokia will now be led by a Canadian. Before Microsoft, Elop, a computer engineer by education, held senior executive positions at Juniper Networks, Adobe Systems, and Macromedia. The embattled OPK will vacate his position as President and CEO on September 20th and will continue to chair the Board at Nokia Siemens Networks. Money quote:

"His (Elop's) strong software background and proven record in change management will be valuable assets as we press harder to complete the transformation of the company."
Naturally, OPK leaves with a severance package honoring his 30 years of service. That translates to 18 months gross base salary and target incentive totalling about €4.6 million plus 100,000 restricted Nokia shares that will vest on October 1, 2010. Once again, proof that it's good to be king.