Troubled Motorola to name David Dorman as Chairman

Motorola, a company that helped bring the cell phone to fruition, has been struggling lately. To recapture world market share, Motorola will name former AT&T chief executive David Dorman to the position of chairman next month. Dorman will be named to his new position on May 5 of this year, after Ed Zander retires at the company’s annual meeting.

Dorman will have plenty of work to do. Besides trying to recover market share, Motorola is slated to spin-off its cell phone division. Dorman will also have to deal with billionaire investor Carl Ichhn, who recently won a battle that put two of his nominees on Motorola’s board of directors. Dorman will be in charge of the board but have no say in the day-to-day business of the company.

“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,” CEO Greg Brown said in a statement.

“Motorola has tremendous assets and talented people, and I am confident in the actions Greg Brown, our management team and Board are taking,” Dorman said in a statement