Ed Zander, former president of Sun Microsystems Inc., is returning to the corporate IT world as chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Motorola Inc.
Zander left Sun in 2002 after 15 years at the company, to join Silver Lake Partners, a private-equity firm that specializes in financing technology companies. The 56-year-old will start his new role on Jan. 5, Motorola said Tuesday. He will replace Christopher Galvin, who announced his retirement in September.
Mike Zafirovski will remain as president and chief operating officer of Motorola. During a conference call Tuesday, Zafirovski expressed disappointment at not winning the position of chairman and CEO. While he said he will work alongside Zander initially, he would make no commitment about how long he will remain at Motorola.
John Pepper, Jr., director and chairman of the CEO search committee acknowledged that Zafirovski had applied for the role, and said that he had been a very strong internal candidate, but that Zander's experience, knowledge of the technology industry and his customer focus "matched perfectly with what we need."
Zander said he accepted the position after a great deal of "due diligence," because of Motorola's position in the world market, its products and people. "It's rare to be given a platform to make a true global impact," he said.
On working with Zafirovski, Zander said "I'd love to see the two of us drive the company. It's a big company, and it's a two-man job."
Motorola spun off its Semiconductor Products Sector business in October, hoping to boost both that division and the company's cellular handset business.
Zander said he had followed news of the spin-off over the past few months and felt it was the right decision, but said he was keen to get involved in how the spin-off was managed.
Zander stressed the importance of wireless markets internationally, and Motorola's position on both sides of the business with infrastructure and handset businesses. He also dismissed talk of his leading a "turnaround" in Motorola's business, saying that it already has a healthy balance sheet.
The company reported a rise of 5 percent in both net earnings and sales in the third quarter of this year, announcing its results earlier than planned to reassure investors after Moody's, the financial ratings agency, downgraded its credit rating.
Asked about Zander's remuneration package, Pepper said people would just have to wait for the company's U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
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