Rajeev Suri to replace Stephen Elop as Nokia’s CEO

Nokia named the man who led a turnaround at its main telecoms network business as its new chief executive on Tuesday, boosting investors’ confidence in the future of the company following the sale of its once-dominant handset arm. The Finnish company, which completed the €5.6 billion ($7.8 billion) deal to sell its mobile handset business to Microsoft on Friday, said Rajeev Suri would become CEO on May 1, replacing Microsoft-bound Stephen Elop.

Nokia has appointed company insider Rajeev Suri as its new chief executive officer. The executive will lead the 149-year-old company as it shifts its focus following the sale of its mobile division to Microsoft for $7.5 billion earlier this month. The 46-year-old has been with Nokia for more than 20 years and replaces former chief Stephen Elop who returned to Microsoft as part of the handset division sale. He’s pegged as a strong choice according to Hannu Rauhala, an analyst at Pohjola Bank in Helsinki. True enough, his experience in running Nokia’s network unit for the past four years will certainly be beneficial. Even before taking the helm, he worked in the division and oversaw strategy, mergers and acquisitions, sales and marketing efforts.