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Nokia plans to announce later Thursday that it has hired Boon Lai to serve as chief marketing officer for its Nokia Technologies unit, the part of the company that plans to re-enter the phone business as soon as next year.

Lai has been serving as chief marketing officer for Philips’ health and wellness business.

The unit, while a small part of the network equipment maker, has big dreams, including rebuilding a consumer brand with both licensed products and its own creations, such as a recently introduced virtual reality camera.

As for phones, Nokia plans to help design the products, but will tap a partner to handle marketing, sales and distribution rather than rebuild the apparatus it sold to Microsoft.