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Dell calls on Motorola's Garriques

Michael Dell recruits another high-profile executive from outside the PC industry to play a role in the company's turnaround.

Tom Krazit Former Staff writer, CNET News
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Google, as the most prominent company on the Internet defends its search juggernaut while expanding into nearly anything it thinks possible. He has previously written about Apple, the traditional PC industry, and chip companies. E-mail Tom.
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Tom Krazit
Dell has hired Motorola's Ron Garriques to run the company's entire consumer business, it announced Friday.

Garriques, who was an executive vice president at Motorola in charge of its cell phone division, will become the latest hire at Dell in recent weeks. He will report directly to CEO Michael Dell and run an organization that contains all of Dell's product and sales teams dedicated to consumer goods, said Bob Pearson, a company spokesman.

Garriques
Credit: Motorola
Ron Garriques

Over the past few months, Dell has overhauled its executive roster, following a disappointing year that cost former CEO Kevin Rollins his job. For the most part, the new executives--such as Garriques--have come from outside the PC and server industry as the company looks for new talent and fresh ideas.

Dell executives have admitted that the company took its eye off the ball last year in being slow to respond to customer support and quality concerns. Several longtime Dell executives have been reassigned or have left the company as the new blood comes onboard.

Garriques brings his track record from Motorola down to Central Texas. Under his leadership, Motorola introduced a number of successful handsets--such as the Razr--that were hits with consumers. However, Motorola's momentum has slowed of late, and the company has warned of lower-than-expected profits.

Dell is wasting little time getting Garriques behind a desk; he starts next week. The company is also kicking off a search for a chief marketing officer, Pearson said.