Helsinki, Aug 6 (IANS): HMD Global, the maker of Nokia-branded phones, on Thursday announced the appointment of former OneWeb advisor Alain Lejeune in the new global operations leadership role for the company.

Lejeune brings to the new role more than 25 years' experience in telecommunications and is a seasoned global operations leader. At OneWeb, he was a special advisor focused on the operations strategy.

In his new role as Global Leader of Operations at HMD, Lejeune will be responsible for overseeing all operations for HMD Global and leading engineering and supply chain management efforts for the company.

"Steadfast operations play a pivotal role in maintaining equilibrium for a nimble startup such as HMD Global, and I look forward to helping the business maintain momentum and navigate change now and in the future," Lejeune said on his appointment.

He will report to Florian Seiche, Chief Executive Officer at HMD Global.

Prior to OneWeb, Lejeune worked with TCL Group -- joining as part of the company's acquisition of the mobile phone division of Alcatel.

Lejeune was also responsible for managing the acquisition of global licensing rights from Canadian-based BlackBerry Limited by TLC.

Following a successful acquisition, he became President of the BlackBerry Mobile business division created within TCL and re-launched BlackBerry smartphones as a premium professional brand to global markets.