Nokia calls on Abou-Khalil to be its chief legal officer and Lukander as president

Nokia announced Wednesday that Nassib Abou-Khalil (in the photo above) will become chief legal Officer. He’ll report to Nokia President and Chief Executive Officer, Rajeev Suri, and become a member of the company’s group leadership team.  His new gig starts August 1. Along with Khalil’s announcement, the company said that Jenni Lukander will become Nokia’s president.

Abou-Khalil  and Lukander will succeed Maria Varsellona, who will be leaving Nokia at the end of October to join ABB.

Nassib Abou-Khalil, currently deputy CLO, Business, joined Nokia in 2014 as head of Legal & Compliance for Middle East and Africa. Before that he was a regional counsel for Yahoo and General Electric. He led the integration of the compliance programs of Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia and is a strong advocate for the digitization of the function. He has a master’s degree in international trade law as well as a civil law Degree, a bachelor’s degree in common law and a BA in Political Science, all from the University of Ottawa.

“Jenni and Nassib are ideally positioned for their new roles”, said Suri.  “Both are strong leaders with deep expertise and track records of performance.  I want to thank Maria for her many contributions to Nokia.  She leaves us with my respect and gratitude for her leadership over the last six years.”

Jenni Lukander, currently Head of Patent Business, will take the role of President of Nokia Technologies and join the Group Leadership Team (GLT). Lukander joined Nokia in 2007, since when she has led patent licensing, litigation, competition law and other regulatory matters. Lukander started her career as an attorney at a leading law firm in Helsinki. She has a master’s in law from the University of Helsinki.