Former AT&T CEO and chairman David Dorman will become chairman of the board at Motorola, the company announced Wednesday.

Dorman takes the reins from Ed Zander, who will retire upon completion of his term at the annual shareholder meeting scheduled for May 5, according to Motorola.

Motorola hopes to take advantage of Dorman's industry knowledge, and also his understanding of Motorola, according to a statement from Greg Brown, president and CEO of Motorola. Brown took the CEO post earlier this year when Zander stepped down.

Motorola was under pressure to make management changes as its mobile device business foundered over the last year. (Read columnist Howard Anderson's take on "10 Reasons Why Motorola Failed.")

In a nod to powerful investor Carl Icahn, a vocal proponent of management change, Dorman said in a statement that he looks forward to enhance value for all Motorola shareholders.

Dorman and Brown will now lead Motorola as the company executes its plan to create two independent publicly traded companies, and save its device manufacturing business.

Dorman has built a good reputation among industry insiders.

"Dorman took control of AT&T when the long-distance industry was shrinking and did a great job of helping the smaller company survive, until it was acquired by SBC," said telecom industry analyst Jeff Kagan.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.

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