Nokia’s (NOK) technology unit, Nokia Technologies, is seeing another top level executive leave, this time Chief Technology Officer Guido Jouret, who is jumping ship to ABB, the Swiss automation company.
The move on the part of Jouret, who is credited with Nokia’s recent acquisition of Withings, the digital health company, comes just days after Ramzi Haidamus, the head of the technology group, left the company. Jouret will take on his role at ABB as of October 1. Jouret worked at Nokia since 2015 and prior to that he was the general manager of the Internet of Things unit at Cisco. (See also, Nokia Loses Head of Profitable Patent Unit.)
The departure of Jouret, right on the heels of the Haidamus exit, comes at a time when the Nokia Technology unit is very profitable and is behind some key partnerships designed to bring Nokia handsets into the marketplace and expand the company’s growth into other consumer products. Haidamus was credited with striking an expanded patent deal with Samsung Electronics and was behind the May agreement with HMD to develop Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets for 10 years. Under his charge the unit also inked a deal with FIH Mobile Limited, which agreed to acquire operational control of global sales, distribution and marketing of Nokia-branded phones from Microsoft, which bought Nokia’s handset business in September of 2013. (For more, see also: Nokia Is Getting Back Into the Mobile Device Game.)
The high profile departures are happening at a pivotal time for Nokia, which is trying to right what had become a sinking ship. The company has made acquisitions to increase its presence in the Internet of Things market, it acquired Alcatel-Lucent, adopting a huge patent of different technologies and has inked partnerships to get back into the handset market. Its acquisition of Withings, which it announced in April, is also a play in the Internet of Things.
Nokia’s Chief Executive Rajeev Suri said with the acquisition “Nokia is strengthening its position in the Internet of Things in a way that leverages the power of our trusted brand, fits with our company purpose of expanding the human possibilities of the connected world, and puts us at the heart of a very large addressable market where we can make a meaningful difference in peoples’ lives.” Brad Rodrigues, currently head of strategy and business development at Nokia Technologies will assume the role of acting president of the unit until a permanent successor can be found for Haidamus. Nokia didn’t comment on Jouret’s departure.
