Padmasree Warrior, Motorola’s Chief Technology Officer, has left the company to take up the same position at Cisco Systems. Warrior’s departure comes only a few days after the removal of the mobile manufacturer’s CEO Ed Zander. A Motorola spokeswoman told IDG News Service that Warrior will be replaced by Rich Nottenburg, Motorola’s Chief Strategy Officer. Warrior had been responsible for Motorola’s US$4.1 billion research and development programme and a staff of 26,000 engineers.
Motorola’s spokeswoman would not divulge the reason for Warrior’s departure, but claimed that the move was in line with earlier plans. “This is the final step in redefining the CTO responsibilities and is entirely consistent with the direction we outlined several months ago,” she said. Analysts are sceptical of this claim – Chris Silva, an analyst with Forrester Research, told IDG News Service that he was expecting changes in internal business functions and product market leadership rather than the removal of operational leaders such as Warrior.