Nokia’s Canadian CEO Stephen Elop

On September 21, 2010, Stephen Elop became Nokia Corporation’s first non-Finnish Chief Executive Officer when he replaced Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo.

Elop boasts of a remarkable career as an executive. Before Nokia, Elop has a seven-year stint at Macromedia as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive Officer. When Adobe Systems acquired Macromedia, he became the Worldwide Field Operations President for six months until he resigned in June 2006.

Elop was with Microsoft immediately before joining Nokia Corporation. He was the head of Microsoft’s Business Division, which is responsible for the Microsoft Office products. He was a part of the leadership team when his division released Office 2010.

According to sources, Nokia paid Elop a whopping signing bonus of $6 million. It was also reported that his annual salary at Nokia is $1.4 million.

Elop’s outstanding stint as Nokia’s CEO has been his internal memo entitled “Burning Platform.” In this memo, Elop illustrated Nokia’s standing in the smartphone market as a man standing on a burning oil platform. He meant the platform to refer to Google Android, Apple iOS or Symbian.

BBC praised Elop’s memo saying his message “is one of the most combustible and gripping documents ever to emerge from a major corporation.” Financial Times also noted his 1200-word communication as elegant but brutally honest message “far removed from the average management pep talk.” Elop’s memo also became a guide for Cisco’s John Chambers and many other businesses and political leaders.

True to his “Burning Platform” document, in February 2011, Nokia’s operating system shifted from Symbian to Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7. Nokia shifted slowly to Elop’s new business strategy, release only two new versions of Symbian operating systems: the N9, which is Meego-based; and the five dual SIM phones. Nokia’s first Windows Phone 7 featured smartphone was not released until November 2011.

Stephen Elop was born on December 31, 1963 in Ancaster Ontario, Canada. He was a standout at McMaster University, in Hamilton, Ontario, when he finished second in his class with a degree in Computer Engineering and Management. During his time at the university, he was a part of the team which laid a 22-kilometer Ethernet cable around the school campus, making it one of the first internet networks in Canada.

Stephen is married to Nancy. They have five children, including a triplet.