Motorola rejigs its comms team after departures

The loss-making mobile phone company has pro­moted Stephanie Forrest, PR manager for its net­work infrastructure division, to global head of B2B comms.

Meanwhile, Natalie Harrison, PR manager for Motor­ola’s high growth markets, has relocated from Asia to head the consumer comms team in EMEA and India.

The firm lost European director of comms Rachel Laird, who moved on to publisher Random House (PRWeek, 20 June). Laird’s post has now been scrapped.

‘We’re focused around our audiences, and have reorganised our comms team around consumer on one hand, and business and tech on the other,’ said Forrest. ‘Around half of our revenue, and therefore about half of our communications, stems from non-devices.’

Forrest reports to Motorola’s US-based head of external comms Jennifer Weyrauch-Erickson, while Harrison reports to global consumer comms head Paul Alfieri, also based in the US.

Forrest has been recruiting a new comms team, focusing on Motorola’s emerging markets. ‘We’ve got a strong team in Asia and we’ve recruited a new North American lead for business and tech,’ she said.

Motorola posted a $209 million loss in the first half of 2007, due in part to competition from brands including BlackBerry and iPhone.

Forrest said Motorola is pushing its offerings in more buoyant network infrastructure sectors.