Nokia introduced on Thursday, 29 January, that its chair, Sari Baldauf, plans to step down and might be succeeded by Timo Ihamuotila, amid the corporate’s push into synthetic intelligence that helped it meet quarterly earnings expectations, based on a Reuters report.
Nokia’s shares dropped 6% in early buying and selling in Helsinki, making it one of many worst performers on Europe’s Stoxx 600 index, the report mentioned. Baldauf, a longtime government at Nokiahas been chairing the board since 2020 after rejoining the corporate in 2018. Her earlier time at Nokia, from 1994 to 2005, coincided with the corporate’s rise to grow to be a world chief within the cell phone market.
Ihamuotila, who at present serves as vice chair, was Nokia’s chief monetary officer from 2009 to 2016. He’s anticipated to depart from theSwiss group ABB by the top of 2026, the report mentioned.
The Finland-based firm is enterprise one in every of its largest restructuring efforts after promoting its iconic cell phone division over a decade in the past, counting on AI and information centre demand to offset weak spending and contract losses in 5G.
Final yr, the corporate appointed former Intel government Justin Hotard as its CEO to speed up the transition. Nevertheless, a revenue warning on account of US import tariffs and a weaker greenback has impacted margins, rising strain for extra substantial price reductions, the report mentioned.
About Sari Baldauf
Serving as a Nokia Board member since 2018, Baldauf is a member of the Company Governance and Nomination Committee, the Personnel Committee, and the Technique Committee of the corporate.
She has pursued a Grasp of Enterprise Administration on the Helsinki Faculty of Economics and Enterprise Administration, Finland and a Bachelor of Science on the Helsinki Faculty of Economics and Enterprise Administration, Finland. Baldauf secured honorary doctorates in Expertise and Enterprise Administration.
She additionally served because the Government Vice President and Basic Supervisor of the Networks Enterprise Group at Nokia from 1998 to 2005. Baldauf held numerous government positions at Nokia in Finland and the US between 1983 and 1998.