Colin Giles leaving Nokia ‘to be closer to his family’; his position will not be replaced.

Colin Giles is leaving Nokia after 20 years, the ‘official’ apparently to be cloaser to his family. His position as EVP of sales will NOT meet a replacement.

You guys have been complaining that there’s too much management layers at Nokia so with Giles’ departure, Nokia will restructure and reduce a layer of sales management to ‘ensure greater customer focus and provide senior leaders with greater visibility into market dynamics’ – whatever that means.

Nokia’s four SVP’s (Chris Weber, USA; Shiv Shivakumar, India, Middle East and Africa; Olivier Puech, Asia Pacific and Victor Saeijs for Europe and Eurasia.), will instead report to Niklas Savander, EVP of markets.

Reduction of Giles’ position is apparently something that would improve collaboration between business groups and teams on the ground.

Today Nokia announced that Colin Giles, executive vice president of sales and a member of the Nokia Leadership Team, will step down from his position and the Nokia Leadership Team effective June 30, 2012. After many years of travel, Giles has decided to leave the company on to be closer to his family.

With Giles departure, Nokia will restructure the sales organization by reducing a layer of sales management to ensure greater customer focus and providing senior leaders greater visibility into market dynamics. Effective immediately, Nokia’s four regional senior vice presidents and the lead of sales operations will report directly to Niklas Savander, executive vice president of markets.

The regional senior vice presidents include Chris Weber for the Americas; Shiv Shivakumar for India, Middle East and Africa; Olivier Puech for Asia Pacific and Victor Saeijs for Europe and Eurasia.

“Our structure is focused on ensuring that the sales organization is aligned with local customer requirements, market-by-market competitive issues and country-specific sales and marketing tactics,” said Savander. “As a result of reducing layers, we can increase the speed at which we execute sales activities and improve the collaboration between our business groups and our team on the ground.”

Giles joined Nokia in 1992 and has served in a number of marketing and sales roles across the company. Giles was instrumental in building Nokia’s presence in Asia and China and expanded Nokia’s sales and marketing efforts in many regions around the world. Most recently he led the global sales organization during Nokia’s transition. Colin will stay with Nokia until June 30, 2012, to help establish the new structure.

“Colin’s leadership has been very valuable as we shifted Nokia’s strategy and aligned the sales organization around our new product families, Lumia and Asha,” said Stephen Elop, president and CEO. “We appreciate the commitment that Colin has demonstrated to Nokia over the years, and we wish him much success as he takes the next step in his career.”

http://press.nokia.com/2012/04/19/nokia-lumia-610-starts-rolling-out-in-asia/

Sourve: Nokia via The Verge

Cheers ‘noknok’ for the tip.

Category: Nokia