Chief technology officer leaves Motorola

The woman credited with helping make the seamless mobility technology strategy the backbone of Motorola Inc. has left, the company said Monday.

Motorola executives declined to say whether Chief Technology Officer Padmasree Warrior voluntarily resigned or when she departed.

Her departure comes after Chief Executive Officer Ed Zander announced Friday he would leave by Jan. 1. He is being replaced by Chief Operating Officer Greg Brown.

Motorola has been struggling with sagging handset sales. The company has slipped to third place in global market share due to increasing competition and a stagnant mobile phone line. Warrior had already begun to realign the company's technology organization.

Warrior was well regarded in the industry, said Mark McKechnie, telecom analyst with American Technology Research.

"Motorola is going through a significant transition now and it's hard to say how her departure will impact the cellular business," McKechnie said.

Motorola had removed Warrior's photo from the executive line-up on its Web site as of Monday evening. However, another part of the site still had her biography. The biography said Warrior was "an engineer at heart with a true knack for business; Padmasree's charter is to drive innovation, prioritize technology programs and accelerate creative research to commercialization."

She led a global team of about 26,000 engineers and directed Motorola Labs, software, emerging early-stage businesses, and the corporation's intellectual property portfolio.

Chief Strategy Officer Rich Nottenburg will take on the added duties of overseeing technology leadership, Motorola spokesman Chuck Kaiser said.

Technology leaders in each of the company's businesses -- Mobile Devices, Enterprise Mobility Solutions and Home & Networks Mobility -- will continue to be charged with the commercialization of product development, Kaiser said.

Earlier in October, the Motorola Software Group, with about 6,000 workers, was reorganized to ensure its engineering and technology specialization directly support its businesses, Kaiser said.

"This is the final step in redefining the (chief technology officer) responsibilities and is entirely consistent with the direction we outlined several months ago," Kaiser said. "Some of the best innovators in the world are Motorolans and together we will continue transforming the communications industry."

Motorola has said Warrior was "credited with crafting much of Motorola's strategy around seamless mobility, to deliver easy uninterrupted access to everything people want in a flat and mobile world."

She joined Motorola in 1984 and was appointed chief technology officer in 2003. In February 2006, she accepted the National Medal of Technology from President Bush, an award that recognizes American innovation.