The Finnish Giant of Telecommunications has decided to appoint Justin Hotard as his new executive director. The current head of Intel, will replace Pekka Lundmark, who has directed the company since 2020. The new CEO of Nokia will assume the position as of April 1one day after Lundmark left the position, although it will continue in the company to advise the new CEO until the end of 2025.
The relay occurs at a time when manufacturers of telecommunications network equipment are dealing with the fall of 5G equipment sales. Therefore, several of them have been exploring ways to venture into new markets, such as artificial intelligence, and diversifying their business in the process.
Nokia was one of the first, taking important steps in her strategy to abandon the production of mobile phones to focus on consolidating her position on the telecommunications infrastructure sector, especially 5G networks. More than a decade ago he sold his mobile phone business to Microsoft, which included Lumia and Asha brands, as well as the Nokia design team.
Its investments in network technology has also increased, focusing more on Networks defined by software and cloud services and trying to integrate artificial intelligence more in its network services and infrastructure. These measures have contributed to a large extent that Nokia is considered more as a B2B technology provider than as a consumer electronics company. To consolidate this measure even more, Nokia also updated brand and logo in 2023, the first time in 45 years of history.
Even The Nokia brand for mobile use can disappear If HMD Global, the Finnish company responsible for continuing the brand legacy after the purchase of a part of the basic phones that Microsoft had and the licensing agreement with the Nokia matrix to use the brand on its mobile phones, marked the Nokia terminals as discontinued just a month ago.
Who is Nokia’s new CEO?
Justin Hotard is the current Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Data Center and the Intel artificial intelligence group. He previously worked at Hewlett Pckard Enterprise for several years, occupying various positions, as senior vice president of corporate transformation and corporate senior vice president. He was also president of Hpe Japan.
Sari Baldauf, president of the Board of Directors of Nokia, welcomed him in a press release: «I am delighted to welcome Justin to Nokia. It has a solid trajectory in the acceleration of growth in technology companies along with a vast experience in artificial intelligence and data centers, which are Critical areas for the future growth of Nokia«.
For his part, Justin Hotard said he was honored for the opportunity to direct Nokia, a world leader in connectivity with a unique inheritance in technology. «The networks are the spine that drives society and companies, and allow generational technological changes such as the one we are currently experiencing in ia…“ I am excited to begin and I hope to continue the nokia transformation trip to maximize its growth potential and value creation “.
The appointment of the new CEO of Nokia is seen by some analysts such as the “Loss of another executive” For Intel. And it is that the chip giant passes through one of the most delicate moments in its history. «I want to thank my Intel Corporation team for their work to stabilize the artificial intelligence business and data centers during the last year. I wish you very successful on your way »Hotard shared in a LinkedIn post on Monday. Will assume the position as of April 1.
