Motorola Names Former AT&T CEO as Chairman

Motorola Inc announced that its board of directors has elected David Dorman, a former AT&T executive, to serve as non-executive chairman of the board.

Dorman will succeed Ed Zander, the company’s current chairman and former CEO, who will continues in the position until Motorola’s May 5 annual shareholders meeting. Zander announced plans to step down in November 2007 after several lackluster quarterly financial reports and pressure for management changes from the company’s second largest stockholder Carl Icahn mounted. Officially, however, Zander said he decided to end his tenure at Motorola to spend more time with his family.

“Dave is ideally suited to serve as Motorola’s chairman and I am confident that our shareholders will continue to benefit from his industry knowledge and deep understanding of the company,” said Greg Brown, President and CEO of Motorola, in a statement.

Brown, himself, saw a promotion on Zander’s resignation. On January 1, his title changed from President and COO to President and CEO. One of his first actions as CEO was to split the company in two, announcing in late March that Motorola would spin out its mobile devices business, a heavy factor in its ailing financial results, and retain its broadband and mobility solutions business.

“I look forward to working with Dave in his new role as we move forward with our plan to create two independent publicly traded companies and improve the performance of the mobile devices business,” Brown continued.

Dorman joined Motorola's board in 2006 and is a 28-year veteran of the telecommunications industry. He joined AT&T as president in December 2000, and served as chairman and CEO from 2002 until November of 2005. He is currently a managing director and senior advisor at the firm of Warburg Pincus and Co.

As Dorman takes on the Chairman role in May, Motorola’s board is also expected to welcome two new members, William R Hambrecht, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of WR Hambrecht and Co, and Keith Meister, a Principal Executive Officer of Icahn Enterprises. The two nominees came from Icahn and their nomination earlier this week served as a truce of sorts between Motorola and the very insistent stockholder, seeing Icahn agree to end litigation against Motorola. Icahn for more than a year now has campaigned for management changes at the company, charging Motorola with returning shareholder value to its sinking stock.

In addition to the mobile devices separation and board changes, Motorola sourced a new CFO from the private-equity realm and announced 2,600 additional job cuts under Brown’s CEO reign as the company struggles to return value to its stock.

"Motorola has tremendous assets and talented people, and I am confident in the actions Greg Brown, our management team, and board are taking,” said Dorman. “I look forward to taking on this new and exciting role and to working closely with Greg, the board, and the senior management team to enhance value for all Motorola shareholders."

Electronic News, a sister publication of EM Asia