Career moves — Nokia board chair to step down

Welcome to Career Moves, Fierce's weekly rundown of recent hirings, firings and retirings across the tech and telecom sectors. Come back to us each week to keep up with personnel news from the companies that matter most to you.

If you have news from your company or think we missed something, send us an email at fiercenetwork@questex.com to be featured in next week's update.

Week of Jan. 26

This career moves edition was updated on Feb. 2, 2026, at 10:35 a.m. ET, to clarify that Nokia's Board of Directors is endorsing Timo Ihamoutil to be the board's next chair.

euNetworks

London-based broadband infrastructure firm euNetworks this week appointed Giancarlo Ferro to serve as its new CFO, beginning March 23. He will succeed current CFO Katherine Alexakis, who will aid Ferro in his transition.

Ferro brings 30 years of experience in the tech and telecom industries, most of which he spent leading financial teams.

CEO Marisa Trisolino said, “Giancarlo brings a wealth of experience in financial leadership and as CFO will play a key role as we continue to invest in and expand our European network.”

Nokia

Nokia’s Board of Directors announced that Board Chair Sari Baldauf will step down after eight years on the board.

The board proposed that Timo Ihamoutil, the current vice chair, replace Baldauf as the chair. Ihamoutil is CFO and a member of the Group Executive Committee of ABB Ltd, Switzerland. He has been vice chair of the Nokia board since 2025.

The board also endorsed Meredith Whittaker to join the board as a member. Whittaker is the president of Signal Technology Foundation and has previously served as an advisor to the White House, FTC and European Parliament on AI, privacy and security.

Shareholders will vote to fill the vacancy at Nokia’s Annual General Meeting on April 9. The board has recommended shareholders re-elect all nine remaining board members.

The board will appoint its new chair after the general meeting.

Palistar Capital

Digital infrastructure-focused asset manager Palistar Capital this week announced former Chief Administrative Officer Ginu Thomas has taken on an expanded leadership role in the firm. Thomas has served as COO and CFO since Jan. 1, the company said in a press release this week.

“Ginu is a seasoned executive who has quickly earned the confidence of our leadership team through his unique combination of hands-on leadership and investment management expertise,” said Founder and Managing Partner Omar Jaffrey. “His immediate impact across the organization, combined with more than two decades of experience in finance, operations, and scale-building, provided a natural opportunity for us to broaden his responsibilities in support of the firm's continued growth and investment strategy.”

Week of Jan. 19

Calero

Calero, a Rochester, New York-based technology business management (TBM) firm, named Hyoun Park VP of telecom and mobility management.

Park has 20 years of experience in the enterprise technology sector, including stints as an analyst, researcher and, most recently, head of product marketing at Levelpath, an AI-focused software company.

“Bringing Hyoun on board affirms our commitment to investing ahead of the market,” said CEO Scott Gilbert. “His expertise and forward-looking perspective align seamlessly with our mission to empower enterprises to maximize their resources and manage technology in ways that were previously unattainable.”

Element Critical

U.S. data center operator Element Critical this week appointed Andrew Lake SVP and head of strategy and acquisitions.

In a press release, Element Critical described the decision to hire Lake as an anticipatory move ahead of an expected “period of significant growth.” The company announced late last year that it had joined forces with a slew of tech, energy and investment firms to launch a new data center platform.

Element Critical CEO Ken Parent said of Lake’s appointment, “As we immediately begin to expand our product offerings and execute on a growing acquisitions and development pipeline across key U.S. markets, his leadership will help ensure we are building the right platforms for where customers need capacity next.”

Plume

Plume, which provides a platform for ISPs to manage Wi-Fi networks and enable smart home devices from the cloud, this week brought on Rebecca Stone as its new chief marketing officer (CMO).

Stone will join Plume with more than 20 years of leadership experience, including as SVP at Cisco, where she led the company’s revenue and consumer solutions marketing strategies.

“Rebecca has built and scaled world-class marketing teams across cloud, networking and service providers,” said CEO Dan Hersocici, who Stone will report to as CMO. “Her customer empathy and ability to translate complex technology into differentiated value will be critical as we help partners stand out, grow and compete.”

Tata Communications

Indian ISP and network services firm Tata Communications, a subsidiary of Tata Group, this week appointed Ganesh Lakshminarayanan its new managing director and CEO, pending regulatory approval.

The appointment seeks to fill the job that will be vacant come April 13, when current managing director and CEO Amur Lakshminarayanan (who happens to share Ganesh’s last name) is slated to retire.

If approved, Ganesh will leave his current role as ServiceNow India’s managing director and group VP for the top job at Tata. Before joining ServiceNow India, he spent nearly five years as the chief executive of Airtel’s Enterprise Business and Business India units.

Teradata

AI platform Teradata this week announced it appointed Ken Ricketts to serve as SVP and CISO.

Ricketts’ professional experience spans quality assurance and cybersecurity. Most recently, he spent the latter half of 2025 as CISO in residence at venture capital firm Insight Partners for Enterprise. He has also previously held senior leadership roles at SurveyMonkey and Coupa Software.

“As AI becomes increasingly central to enterprise innovation, Ken’s leadership will ensure that security is not only a safeguard but a strategic enabler,” said COO Mike Hutchinson. “His ability to combine technical depth with forward-thinking vision will strengthen our security posture and empower customers to innovate confidently.”

Week of Jan. 12

Applied Digital

Data center builder and operator Applied Digital announced its board of directors has named co-founder Jason Zhang its new president. Zhang has been the company’s chief strategy officer since August 2025.

Chairman and CEO Wes Cummins said, “Since the company’s inception, Jason has been an invaluable leader within Applied Digital, demonstrating exceptional strategic acumen and an unwavering commitment to carrying out our mission while charting a rapid period of growth.”

CTIA

American telecommunications trade association CTIA this week announced that its SVP of External and State Affairs, Jamie Hastings, will retire at the end of January.

Throughout her 15 years at CTIA, Hastings has expanded the association’s educational programs for legislators, oversaw a new competitive grants program and advocated for accelerated adoption of 5G networking at the state and local levels.

Mission Critical Group

Electronics manufacturer and power solutions company Mission Critical Group named Michael Maiello, an industry veteran with 30 years of leadership experience, as VP of innovation this week.

Maiello will report to Matt Coffel, chief commercial and innovation officer, and focus on driving innovation across the company’s electronics, energy storage and power integration products.

Nasuni

Data management firm Nasuni this week announced two appointments to its C-suite. Jerry Carter will join the company as CTO, and Ross Grainger will come on as CFO.

Carter comes to Nasuni with decades of engineering and technical experience in software development and systems architecture, including 13 years at Dell Technologies.

Grainger brings direct experience of corporate finance leadership. Before coming to Nasuni, he served as CFO at Paradox, an AI-focused recruiting and human resources technology firm, for six years.

Parametrix

Parametric insurance firm Parametrix this week announced it had hired Kerri Colwell as its new Director of Digital Infrastructure Practice.

Colwell has over 20 years of leadership experience across roles in financial services and investment banking. Most recently, she spent 11 years as SVP of institutional real estate for Citizens Bank.

Proximus Group

Proximus Group, which owns a number of European telecom and IT companies, announced sweeping changes to its senior leadership team, which it calls its leadership squad.

The group’s entire B2B portfolio will come under its Proximus NXT brand, which will be led by Fabrice De Windt.

B2C and AI Lead Jim Casteele will oversee and streamline the group’s AI initiatives in addition to his other existing responsibilities in the role.

The leadership squad expands to welcome Donatienne Goemans, who will serve as customer operations lead. Another new face to the leadership team, Jeroen Verbruggen will join as IT lead.

Scality

French digital storage provider Scality this week appointed French Air and Space Force veteran Maj. Gen. Laurent Boïté to the company’s executive leadership team.

After 36 years of military service, Boïté will serve as SVP and lead Scality’s customer success organization with a focus on improving operations and AI adoption.

Stream Data Centers

U.S.-based wholesale data center builder and operator Stream Data Centers this week named Michael Lahoud its new chief executive. Lahoud has worked for the company for 15 years and previously served as co-managing partner.

Stream also appointed a host of new executives that will join Lahoud in the C-suite — Oisin Murchu as chief development officer, Rick Crutchley as COO and Amanda Abell as VP of sustainability.

Vetro

Fiber management software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm Vetro this week named Brett Lindsay the company’s new president. Lindsay brings leadership experience in the telecom and data center sectors, most recently as CEO of Ark Data Centers.

In his new role, Lindsay will oversee Vetro’s daily operations and report directly to Will Mitchell, the company’s founder and chief executive.

Week of Jan. 5

Altibox Carrier

Norwegian connectivity provider Altibox Carrier this week named Martin Dowling CTO.  Dowling spent the last 12 years working on networking for Microsoft in its European market. Most recently, he led Microsoft’s network acquisition in the region.

The Irish-native will leverage his experience connecting data centers in his new role as Altibox looks to “meet the rapidly growing demands of data centers and hyperscalers,” said CEO Svein Arlid Ims.

BSP

Mergers and acquisitions advisory firm BSP appointed three new senior staffers to its payroll in response to a 77% year-over-year invoiced revenue increase last fiscal year.

Experienced data center executives Rob Moser and Tom Drouillard will serve as project directors for the North America region.

BSP also named Joachim Sonne as senior advisor in its Europe business. Sonne brings years of experience handling digital infrastructure transactions from his decades-long career at J.P. Morgan.

Ekinops

Optical transport and SASE provider Ekinops announced its board has appointed Lionel Chmilewsky chief executive, effective Jan. 12.

The new CEO brings extensive leadership experience in the cybersecurity industry in the U.S. and Europe. He has previously served as CEO of TrustBuilder, Corero Network Security and Comverse IP Communications.

Chmilewsky succeeds interim CEO Philippe Moulin, who will continue to serve as COO after the transition.

Elea Data Centers

Brazilian digital infrastructure firm Elea Data Centers named Ana Franco its new international business director. In her new role, she will report to VP of International Business, Elena Winters, and manage the company’s relationships with its hyperscaler customers and other large businesses it serves.

Franco is joining the company’s executive and senior leadership, one-third of whom are women, the company noted in a statement on LinkedIn. Franco's “appointment reflects our focus on building leadership teams based on trust, work ethics, loyalty and impact, as well as our continued commitment to ensuring women lead the way as we scale," President and Founder Alessandro Lombardi said in a statement.

Infrastructure Masons

Infrastructure masons, a nonprofit industry organization concerned with digital infrastructure, this week appointed a new chief executive: Cyre Mercedes Quiñones.

Dean Nelson, founder and chairman of Infrastructure Masons, said Quiñones’ “extensive experience managing large-scale global operations, combined with her dedication to the people who build our industry, makes her the ideal leader for this organization.”

Lambda

AI cloud infrastructure provider Lambda named Leonard Speiser as its new COO. In 2010, Speiser co-founded Clover Network, a point-of-sale and payment processing platform for small to medium-sized businesses.

As COO, he will oversee day-to-day operations and lead the company’s efforts to connect consumers with AI-ready cloud services.

Stephen Balaban, co-founder and CEO of Lambda, said, Speiser’s appointment is “an amazing opportunity to work with a fellow founder who has built a company from the ground up.”

Lumos

Regional fiber internet provider Lumos this week announced changes to its C-suite.

The company announced two internal promotions: David Smith to COO and Josh Many to CNO. Smith and Many will assume their roles immediately.

CEO Brian Stading also announced he will retire at the end of the first quarter. Since assuming the top spot in 2022, Stading has overseen over half a million new home fiber passings and expanded the company’s operations from two states to 10.

“Working here at Lumos has been the highlight of my career — a true honor from the very beginning,” Stading said.

USTelecom

Broadband trade association USTelecom announced it has promoted three of its directors to senior directors: Alanna Chapell, Jessica Thompson and Lara Weinstein.

The move reflects “the talent, dedication and impact Alanna, Jessica and Lara bring to USTelecom every day,” said Jonathan Spalter, president and CEO. “I am grateful for their commitment to our members and proud to recognize the role each of them plays in delivering real results for communities across the country.”