Nokia Siemens Networks announced today that it has appointed Samih Elhage as its chief operating officer (COO). Elhage will join Nokia Siemens Networks on March 19, 2012, reporting to the company’s chief executive officer, Rajeev Suri.
“Samih brings a great deal of telecommunications, operations, business transformation and management experience to our new role of chief operating officer,” said Suri. “With our strategy clearly defined and restructuring underway, I am particularly pleased to have Samih join us to focus on driving operational excellence as well as improving our overall mode of operations.”
The new role of COO has been created to lead the Global Operations organization at Nokia Siemens Networks and the transformation of the company’s mode of operations and business performance management. In this new role, Elhage joins the company’s Executive Board.
“Joining Nokia Siemens Networks at this critical juncture in its transformation is a tremendous opportunity, and I am excited to be part of one of the leading teams in the most important sector of telecoms today: mobile broadband,” Elhage said. “I’m confident that by leveraging my relevant operational expertise, together with the existing team at Nokia Siemens Networks, we can successfully tackle the challenges and opportunities facing the company.”
Elhage was previously a senior advisor to leading private equity and global management consulting firms, focusing on investments and improving the operating performance of companies in the telecommunications sector. Prior to these advisory roles, until August 2010, Elhage held a number of leadership roles at Nortel, including president of Carrier Voice over IP and Applications Solutions and vice president of Corporate Business Operations.
Elhage has more than 22 years of deep and broad expertise in telecommunications. He began his career at Bell Canada in 1990 where he held multiple management and leadership roles relating to network development. Elhage then joined Nortel in 1998, where he held leadership roles in its Optical, Broadband and Core Data Networks organizations, before assuming leadership of Business Transformation and Operations.
Herbert Merz, who has been leading both Global Operations and Optical Networks for Nokia Siemens Networks, will focus on the optical business. Merz remains on the Executive Board and will continue to lead the Nokia Siemens Networks Germany supervisory board.
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