Motorola has named David Dorman, the former AT&T chairman and CEO, and leader of several of companies in the AT&T family tree, as its non-executive chairman of the board. Former Motorola CTO Ed Zander is still chairman, but will be leaving that post on May 5. Dorman already was within arm's reach as a member of the Motorola board of directors, but even if he wasn't, the managing director of Warburg Pincus & Co. and serial corporate director seems like a natural choice for a company in need of as many steady guiding hands as possible.
I don't think I've interviewed Dorman since he was chief of Pacific Bell during the 1990s, before that telco was acquired by SBC Communications, but at that point, he was already a veteran of various Bell system and telecom industry changes. He came off as very level-headed, approachable and someone as interested in listening as talking. Those are exactly the kinds of attributes Motorola needs as it proceeds with a corporate split and a new board structure that makes room for the pesky Carl Icahn and his nominated board representatives.
For more:
- see this story at The Wall Street Journal
Related articles:
- Motorola recently reached an agreement with Icahn. Motorola report