About

When the Finnish giant Nokia acquired French technology company Alcatel-Lucent in 2016 in a deal worth $16.6bn, it made news headlines across the globe. Before the deal was concluded Ellen-Karine Hektoen was the legal director of Alcatel-Lucent’s operations in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Latvia and also served as chairman of the board in Alcatel- Lucent Finland. In the role she worked closely with other departments such as finance, engineers, sales and management on all legal issues in the Nordic and Baltic region including contract negotiation and management, corporate governance, employment law, litigation, external legal counsel coordination and management of real estate matters. Because of her highly respected work and long association, Hektoen continued working in her senior legal position after the deal with Nokia and became general counsel for the Nordic and Baltic region. Since then she successfully integrated the previous legal operations into the new company structure. Before her time at Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent, Hektoen worked for the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications between 1996 and 1999. She graduated in law from the University of Tromsø in 1995 and is fluent in English but can also speak in French, Spanish and German.