Rajeev Suri

Rajeev Suri has been with Nokia for 25 years. He was President and CEO of Nokia from May 2014 to July 2020. Prior to that, he was CEO of Nokia Siemens Networks from October 2009 to April 2014. He is a director on the board of Stryker, a US-based medical technology company. He is also a director on the board of Singtel, Asia’s leading communications technology group. He is a Senior Advisor of Technology at Warburg Pincus, Operating Advisor at Apollo Global Management which are both private equity companies. In addition, he is an Industrial Advisor to Evli Growth Partners, a Nordic based Venture Capital fund and an advisory board member of Finland’s Aalto University School of Business.

During his leadership of the Networks business at Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks over a period of 11 years, Rajeev led the global network industry consolidation by acquiring several wireless networks companies in the sector. During his leadership, Nokia acquired the networks businesses of Siemens, Motorola, Panasonic, Alcatel, Lucent, Bell Labs and a part of Nortel. Simultaneously, annual profits grew around hundred-fold from EUR 25m in 2009 to over EUR 2Bn, moving Nokia from a distant number 4 to a number 2 player and revenues of Nokia’s networks business grew from EUR 6Bn in 2007 four times to nearly EUR 24Bn.

Since May 2014, as Chief Executive Officer of Nokia, Rajeev led Nokia’s recent transformation, including its acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent giving Nokia a combination of the broadest portfolio and worldwide presence, its successful expansion into enterprise vertical markets, the creation of a standalone software business, the significant expansion of the patent licensing business and the return of the Nokia brand to mobile phones.

In his previous role as CEO of Nokia Siemens Networks for five years, he delivered a complete turnaround, increasing the value of the company from approximately EUR 1 billion to well more than EUR 10 billion and profits and cash grew manifold. His leadership of Nokia’s networks business over eleven years has allowed the telecommunications equipment space to be consolidated to a much healthier industry structure.

Through more than 31 years of international experience, Rajeev has developed deep expertise across a range of technology areas that will be critical in the onset of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, including telecommunication networks and devices, the Internet of Things, virtual reality, digital health, big data analytics, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, enterprise digitalisation and Software as a service business models. He has held senior business roles leading major Nokia accounts and various business units and regions. At Nokia, he gained business experience working across a range of functions including strategy, mergers and acquisitions, product marketing, sales, major account leadership, and regional and business unit leadership.

Rajeev was born in India in 1967 and is now a Singaporean citizen. He has lived in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Europe and is primarily based in London and secondarily in Singapore.