David Heard is President of the Network Infrastructure (NI) business group at Nokia. Based in Dallas, David was the Nokia NI Chief Strategic Growth Officer and joined Nokia with the acquisition of Infinera in February 2025. He was previously CEO of Infinera and, prior to that, held the role of Infinera’s Chief Operating Officer, responsible for leading the innovation of new optical networking solutions and the overall operational excellence of the company. Before joining Infinera, David held senior positions across various technology companies in the U.S. including JDSU, BigBand Networks, Somera Communications, Lucent and AT&T gaining comprehensive experience of the telecoms industry and demonstrating a strong growth mindset and a commitment to innovation leadership. David holds a B.A. in Production and Operations Management from Ohio State University, an MBA from the University of Dayton and an M.S. in Management from Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was a Sloan Fellow. David serves on the boards of several companies, as well as on the Max M. Fisher College of Business Fisher Alumni Board.