Nokia appoints new CTO as Green’s leave of absence is made permanent

Nokia’s chief technology officer, Richard Green – who has been on indefinite leave from the company since June – is leaving the company with immediate effect.

Although Nokia said his absence was for personal reasons, there were strong hints that he was dissatisfied with the company’s switch from Symbian to Microsoft for its smartphone OS.

Nokia announced today that Henry Tirri, currently head of Nokia Research Centre (NRC) will replace him and has been appointed executive vice president, CTO and a member of the Nokia Leadership Team. He reports directly to president and CEO Stephen Elop.

Tirri joined Nokia in 2004 as a research fellow before leading NRC Systems Research laboratory in 2007. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Helsinki, Finland. Tirri will be based in Sunnyvale, California.