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After Microsoft's Satya Nadella, Nokia may give charge to Indian-origin Rajeev Suri as CEO

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L-R: Satya Nadella, Rajeev Suri and Indira Nooyi.
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As per newspaper reports, Rajeev Suri, the head of Nokia's telecoms network equipment division, is likely to become the Finnish group's next chief executive following the sale of its handset business to Microsoft recently. 

Helsingin Sanomat newspaper, citing sources familiar with board discussions, said Suri was the strongest candidate to succeed Stephen Elop who is due to move to Microsoft once the 5.4 billion euro ($7.5 billion) handset deal is closed.

The companies have been expecting to finalise the deal by the end of March, and the newspaper said the board of Nokia would nominate a new chief executive shortly after that.

Indian-born Suri has been widely considered the leading candidate for the post mainly because in recent years he has helped the network equipment division, Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN), turn profitable by ditching unprofitable businesses and with a drastic restructuring plan.

However, NSN recently reported its fourth-quarter sales fell 22 percent from a year earlier, raising concerns about its growth prospects.

Formally, the Government has not yet decided on the appointment, but Suri is the strongest of the candidates, according to knowledgeable.

The board says the nomination in the next few weeks, after the mobile phone business has been sold the software company Microsoft. Phone business by the end of the current month should be sold to Microsoft.

Nokia counsel has revealed during the tax-case hearing in India yesterday that the deal may get closed within 20 days, as the hurdles faced in China are also cleared.

NSN, which was originally a joint venture of Nokia and Siemens, accounts for about 90% of Nokia's sales after the handset deal.

"We will talk more about the Nokia strategy, structure and organisation around the closing of the pending transaction," said spokeswoman Maija Taimi to the newspaper. 

Here's a list of prolific appointments of Indian-origin officials in the past: 

The big conglomerations that have hired Indian-origin officials include Microsoft, PepsiCo, ArcelorMittal, Deutsche Bank, Diageo, Reckitt Benckiser, MasterCard, DBS Group Holdings, SanDisk (Sanjay Mehrotra), Global Foudries (Sanjay Jha) and Adobe (Shantanu Narayen).

1. Satya Nadella

The software giant Microsoft appointed Satya Nadella as its new CEO. He is a Hyderabad native. He did electrical engineering from Manipal University, Masters in computer science from University of Wiscosin, and he also holds an MBA from the University of Chicaga. Nadella Joined Microsoft in 1992.

According to Bill Gates “there is no better person to lead Microsoft other than Satya Nadella”. Nadella served Microsoft for 22 years. He is the man behind developing of Microsoft cloud computing and Bing search business.

2. Indira Nooyi

Indra K Nooyi was appointed to lead American cola giant PepsiCo with the board of the food and beverage multinational electing the 50-year-old corporate wizard as the CEO to succeed Steve Reinemund from October 1, 2006.

3.Rakesh Khurana

Indian-American professor Rakesh Khurana has been appointed Dean of the prestigious Harvard College, becoming the latest addition to a long list of Indian-origin academicians assuming leadership roles at renowned global universities.

4. Rakesh Kapoor

Leading global consumer goods firm Reckitt Benckiser Group plc (RB) announced appointment of India-born Rakesh Kapoor as the Chief Executive Officer designate of the company.

Kapoor took over as RB's CEO with effect from September 1, 2011 from Bart Becht, who has held the post for 16 years.

5. Ajay Banga

US-India Business Council (USIBC) appointed Ajay Banga, the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Master-Card Worldwide as its its chairman.

Banga sought to expand the partnership between the two countries and prepare the roadmap for a bilateral investment treaty which could increase India-US trade from $100 billion to $500 billion in the next few years.

6. Piyush Gupta

Singapore's DBS Group, Southeast Asia's biggest lender, has appointed Piyush Gupta from Citigroup as its new chief executive, hoping the veteran banker will help it grow in India and China.

7. Anshu Jain

Anshu Jain serves as co-CEO of Germany's Deutsche Bank, while Menezes last year took over as chief of UK-based liquor giant Diageo.

 

Read: Full text: Microsoft’s new Indian-born CEO Satya Nadella’s letter to employees

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