Nokia Siemens Networks has appointed Maria Varsellona as general counsel. Gerwin Zott will continue in his role as acting general counsel until Varsellona joins the company July 1.

Varsellona will report to Chief Executive Officer Rajeev Suri and join the company's executive board. She joins Nokia Siemens from food packaging and processing company Tetra Pak, where she served as general counsel and oversaw global legal operations. In this capacity, she was responsible for general legal support, including intellectual property, corporate governance and risk management.

Prior to that, Varsellona served as senior counsel of commercial operations at General Electric Oil & Gas and previously held a number of senior positions at GE. Previously, she served as senior counsel of Europe at car rental company Hertz. She has also worked for law firms in the U.K. and Italy.