Motorola Names Dorman Board Chairman

Motorola (MOT Quote - Cramer on MOT - Stock Picks) made further changes to its board of directors Wednesday, announcing the election of the former chief of AT&T (T Quote - Cramer on T - Stock Picks) as its new nonexecutive chairman.

The Schaumburg, Ill., handset maker said that David Dorman will succeed prior Motorola CEO Ed Zander as chairman of the board. Zander, who had fallen out of favor with shareholders such as billionaire investor Carl Icahn, will retire from the post after completing his term at Motorola's annual shareholder meeting on May 5. Greg Brown is now Motorola's CEO.

Shares of Motorola were unchanged at $9.49, but are down more than 40% on the year.

Dorman, who was previously both CEO and chairman at AT&T, joined Motorola's board in 2006. He also serves on the boards of CVS Caremark (CVS Quote - Cramer on CVS - Stock Picks), Yum! Brands (YUM Quote - Cramer on YUM - Stock Picks) and the Georgia Tech Foundation.

The appointment of Dorman is the latest shake-up at Motorola. On Monday, the company said it has reached an agreement with Icahn that will see William Hambrecht and Icahn Enterprises' Keith Meister nominated for election to the board at the annual meeting. Icahn has also attempted to get allies Frank Biondi Jr. and Lionel Kimerling installed as directors.

Icahn has been pressuring Motorola for some time, particularly as the company has seen its share of the mobile-phone market eroded by rivals such as Nokia (NOK Quote - Cramer on NOK - Stock Picks) and Samsung, and more recently by Apple's (AAPL Quote - Cramer on AAPL - Stock Picks) iPhone.

Motorola is currently working to split its operations into two separate publicly traded companies. On March 26, the company announced it would seek to splinter off its handset unit. The remainder of the company will consist of a cable set-top box operation, a wireless networking infrastructure business and a security and government services venture.