Mary McDowell

2011 Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award

Mary McDowell is Executive Vice President in charge of Nokia’s Mobile Phones unit, with global P&L responsibility for Nokia’s mass market devices and associated services. She is the champion of Nokia’s “Next Billion” strategy which brings information and internet access to a new generation of consumers primarily in emerging markets. She has been a member of the Nokia management team since 2004, and was appointed to her current position in July 2010. Mary reports to the CEO.

Mary has a successful track record in building new business and as an industry innovator. Fierce Wireless named her one of the “Top Women in Wireless” in July 2008.

Mary joined Nokia in 2004 as Executive Vice President and General Manager of Enterprise Solutions, responsible for the development and marketing of Nokia’s range of business-oriented devices and solutions. These included Nokia Eseries devices, mobility software and security and mobile connectivity solutions. Mary served as Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer from 2008 until assuming her current role.

She serves as a board member of Autodesk, a world leader in 2D and 3D design, engineering and entertainment software.
Before joining Nokia, Mary served 17 years at HP-Compaq, after joining as a systems engineer in 1986. She was Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Industry Standard Server Group at Hewlett Packard and Compaq for five years, leading a multi-billion dollar business and the world’s largest server franchise.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois. She serves on the college’s Board of Visitors.