InterDigital Adds Kai Öistämö, Jeffrey Belk in New Executive Roles

Leading Wireless Executives Move from Board Seats at the Company to Management Roles

Added Experience and Relationships Point to Strengthened Customer Focus, Enhanced China Efforts

WILMINGTON, Del., Oct. 11, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- InterDigital (NASDAQ: IDCC), a mobile technology research and development company, today announced a significant enhancement of its customer focus and licensing efforts with the addition of Kai Öistämö as Chief Operating Officer and Jeffrey Belk as Executive Vice President, Business Development, and President, InterDigital China.

Messrs. Öistämö and Belk, who have both stepped off the company’s Board of Directors to assume their new roles, will contribute significant senior executive experience and relationships gained through their respective careers at Nokia and Qualcomm. Their addition to the executive team marks a dramatic expansion of the company's industry relationships and customer-driven experience.

“InterDigital’s continued success depends on our ability to expand even further our significance in the eyes of our customers, and to articulate our research and capabilities in relation to their business needs,” said William J. Merritt, President and CEO of InterDigital. “The addition of Kai and Jeffrey represents a dramatic strengthening of our senior executive team and contributes a strong understanding of top-tier mobile industry players and their needs. Both also bring strong global backgrounds, including experience in the Chinese market – a necessary requirement for our next phase of growth.”

Prior to joining InterDigital’s Board of Directors in November 2014, Mr. Öistämö gained recognition globally as one of the leading mobile industry executives worldwide over the course of more than two decades at Nokia, including nine years on the Nokia leadership team. At Nokia, he led corporate strategy and business development as Executive Vice President, Chief Development Officer, from 2010 until his departure in 2014, with responsibility for strategic partnerships and alliances. Previous roles during his 23-year tenure at Nokia included Executive Vice President leading both the Devices and Mobile Phones businesses. From September 2016 until recently, Mr. Öistämö was an Executive Partner at Siris Capital, a private equity firm. Mr. Öistämö holds a doctorate degree in technology and a master’s degree in engineering from Tampere University of Technology in Finland.

Mr. Belk joined InterDigital’s Board of Directors in March 2010. Prior to joining the Board, he spent almost 14 years at Qualcomm where, prior to his departure in early 2008, he was Qualcomm’s Senior Vice President of Strategy and Market Development. In that role, he focused on working with operators and partners globally to help accelerate mobile broadband adoption and growth. His time at Qualcomm included a six-year period as Senior Vice President, Marketing, which saw him focus on ecosystem efforts in relation to transitions from 2G to 3G and from 3G to 4G. Since his departure from Qualcomm, Mr. Belk has worked in advisory, development and governance capacities, most recently as Chief Executive Officer of Forecast Ventures. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of California, San Diego, and a master's degree in business administration from the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine.

“InterDigital has experienced remarkable growth in the past few years. With the arrival of 5G, which begins the process of expanding wireless beyond handsets and into every area of our lives, and our recent aggressive expansion into video, both Jeff and I feel that the company is poised for even greater growth, and we’re pleased to be part of it,” said Mr. Öistämö.

“As one of the premier independent standards research companies worldwide, InterDigital has benefited from a tremendous foundation of industry relationships and participation at the engineering level. With the tremendous growth of 4G and launch of 5G, this is an opportune time for InterDigital to enhance its market, customer and industry presence. It’s a very exciting time to be joining the company in this new role,” said Mr. Belk.

About InterDigital^®

InterDigital develops mobile technologies that are at the core of devices, networks, and services worldwide. We solve many of the industry's most critical and complex technical challenges, inventing solutions for more efficient broadband networks and a richer multimedia experience years ahead of market deployment. InterDigital has licenses and strategic relationships with many of the world's leading wireless companies. Founded in 1972, InterDigital is listed on NASDAQ and is included in the S&P MidCap 400^® index.

InterDigital is a registered trademark of InterDigital, Inc.

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