Nokia's CEO Pekka Lundmark to step down; appoints Intel's AI chief Justin Hotard

Pekka Lundmark, who led Nokia as chief executive officer is stepping down from his position, the Finnish telecommunications company announced on February 10, 2025. His last working day is on March 31, 2025, and will continue as an advisor to his successor Justin Hotard, Intel's executive vice President and General Manager, Data Center & AI Business Group till the end of the year. Hotard, who will be the next President and CEO, will assume his responsibilities starting April 1, 2025.

Lundmark shared in a note, "Leading Nokia over the past five years has been a privilege. I’m proud of the work our brilliant team has done in re-establishing our competitiveness and technology leadership, and in positioning the company for growth in data centers, private wireless and industrial edge, and defense."

Lundmark also highlighted that the planning for this leadership transition was initiated when he indicated to the Board that he would like to consider moving on from executive roles when the repositioning of the business was in a more advanced stage, and when the right successor had been identified.

He further said, "Justin Hotard is a great choice for Nokia. I will continue to run the company in the first quarter and, after that, I look forward to working with him as an advisor until the end of the year to make it a smooth transition for employees, customers and partners."

Lundmark began his career as a field engineer at VIA Information Systems, and went on to work across Startupfactory, Hackman Abp, Konecranes and Fortun.

Hotard began his career as an engineer intern at Nokia and went on to work across Motorola, The Monitor Group, Symbol Technologies, NCR Corporation, Atlas Advisors, New H3C Group, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

Read More: Nokia India’s Amit Marwah: If you have the right mind share, market share always follows