A new CFO and a former Groovester...

September 11, 2008

1 Min Read
New Faces at NSN

9:30 AM -- If you can hear a loud scraping noise coming from Europe then that's the sound of chairs being shuffled in the executive board room at Nokia Networks , which says it's moving "beyond its integration phase" with the appointment of Luca Maestri as its new CFO, replacing Eric Simonsen, who is retiring.

Simonsen was brought in at NSN's inception in April 2007 as "an integration and restructuring specialist... his leaving should be viewed as good news" (honestly) because it means the integration process is almost complete, says an earnest NSN spokesman. (See Nokia Siemens Opens on a Downer.)

Maestri, who joins from General Motors Europe, starts his new job on October 1.

NSN has also named Michael Matthews as its new Head of Strategy and Business Development, replacing Pekka Soini, who has been handed a "new role" as head of the Corporate Development Office, "with responsibility for quality, process development, and information technology." Both Matthews and Soini get to sit at the vendor's executive board table.

Matthews joins after five years at telecom software giant Amdocs Ltd. (NYSE: DOX), where his most recent role was Chief Marketing Officer. But before Amdocs, and way more excitingly, he worked at a company with one of the best-ever telecom sector names: Groove Networks. (See Amdocs Appoints Marketeer.)

That, in our books, makes Matthews a Groovester.

We could get into that term/name in a serious way, but the collaboration software specialist was acquired by Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) in 2005, where its stuff is now branded Microsoft Groove, which, well, rather takes the edge off the moniker.

— Ray Le Maistre, International News Editor, Light Reading

Read more about:

Europe
Subscribe and receive the latest news from the industry.
Join 62,000+ members. Yes it's completely free.

You May Also Like