By Arun Sudhaman

LONDON: Lee Brooke has quit his role as MD of Bell Pottinger technology arm Harvard PR for a global role with mobile giant Nokia in Finland.

Brooke will depart Harvard and the UK to become global comms director for Nokia’s new mobile solutions group in November, two years after he joined the agency.

He is expected to report to Nokia’s overall head of global comms Arja Suominen. Nokia’s new mobile solutions division oversees its smartphone and mobile computing products, a critical area in which the company is often viewed as having lost ground to rivals such as Apple, RIM and Samsung.

Brooke declined to comment on his move, which is the latest blow for Harvard after it lost its key Vodafone business earlier this year. However, under Brooke’s guidance, the agency has restructured its leadership and won a string of new accounts this year, including Sennheiser and Nvidia.

It is understood that Bell Pottinger will appoint an interim MD of Harvard, and has commenced a search for Brooke’s permanent replacement.