The board of directors of the Finnish-based phone maker Nokia will propose Risto Siilasmaa as its next chairman after its long-time leader, Jorma Ollila, steps down in May, the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper said, citing unnamed sources.

Siilasmaa, 45, has been a Nokia board member since 2008 and is best known as the founder and the chairman of software security company F-Secure and as an active angel investor. He also chairs the board of Finnish telecom operator Elisa.

The paper on Thursday said the board's nominating committee wants to choose the chairman from the current Finnish board members. Chief executive Stephen Elop, the first non-Finn to run the company, has recently underlined Nokia's Finnish roots after fears it would move its headquarters out of the country.

Other Finnish members in Nokia's board are Stora Enso's CEO Jouko Karvinen, Sampo chief executive Kari Stadigh and Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Bengt Holmstrom.

Nokia declined to comment the report.

A shareholder meeting will decide Ollila's successor in May 3. The board is expected to publish its proposition of the new board on Jan 26 after Nokia's fourth-quarter earnings report.

Jorma Ollila, 61, led Nokia's transformation from a rubber boots and TVs conglomerate into a giant mobile phone company in the 1990s, but in the recent years the company has struggled in the smartphone market.

(Reporting By Jussi Rosendahl; Editing by Matt Driskill and Mike Nesbit)