By Wailin Wong |
Motorola Inc. has hired a former financial analyst and telecom executive to lead strategy for its mobile devices and home business, which is scheduled to be split off from the rest of the company early next year.

The Schaumburg-based company said John Bucher will be corporate vice president of strategy for the division and report to co-Chief Executive Sanjay Jha. In a statement, Jha said Bucher’s technical and management experience “will be instrumental to our strategic planning process as we chart our future course as an independent company.”

Bucher was most recently a buy-side financial analyst at Primecap
Management Company, an investment firm, where he covered the wireless
and cable sectors. He was previously a sell-side analyst and managing
director at BMO Capital Markets. Before making the jump to Wall Street,
Bucher held management positions at two different companies that are now
part of Verizon Wireless.

Motorola’s mobile devices and home business is preparing for several big
smartphone launches this summer, including new devices at Verizon
Wireless, which is the carrier for its Droid phone.