Moto Taps Former AT&T CEO as Chairman

Motorola (NYSE: MOT) elected David Dorman, former AT&T CEO as nonexecutive chairman to succeed Ed Zander, who will retire on May 5, the mobile phone company said on Wednesday.

The appointment of Dorman, who joined Motorola’s board in 2006, comes as the company plans to split into two publicly traded entities in an effort to revive a handset business that is losing market share to rivals such as Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and Samsung Electronics.

It also follows Motorola’s announcement on Monday that the company had settled a year-long proxy battle with Carl Icahn by accepting two of the billionaire investor’s board nominees.

Dorman, 54, is a managing director of Warburg Pincus & Co and has extensive experience in telecommunications, including a series of mergers that led to the creation of the biggest U.S. carrier, AT&T (NYSE: T).

He was AT&T chairman and CEO from 2002 to 2005, after joining the company as president in late 2000. Before that, he was CEO of Concert, a venture between AT&T and British Telecommunications, from 1999 to 2000.

Dorman was also chairman, president and CEO of Pacific Bell from 1994 until its acquisition by SBC Communications in 1997. He began his career in the telecommunications industry at Sprint (NYSE: S) in 1980.

Zander stepped down as CEO last year amid much criticism over Motorola’s stock and earnings performance, following the company’s failure to launch a strong successor to the Razr phone. The plan had been for Zander to complete his term as chairman and retire in May.