Motorola high flyer becomes Skype COO

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 02 July 2008 13:17

IT People - People

Skype has named former Motorola executive, Scott Durchslag, as chief operating officer, reporting to recently appointed president Josh Silverman.

Durchslag was previously with Motorola where he spent five years on the top management team of the $US25b mobile devices business. Most recently, he was corporate vice-president of global product and experience invention  where he led product strategy, innovation, intellectual property, design, user interfaces, consumer experiences (music, video, imaging, productivity and mobile internet), partnerships, product marketing, and customer care.

He joined Motorola in 2002 as chief strategy officer of the Personal Communications Sector, where he is credited with having architected the turnaround strategy that doubled market share and revenues between 2002 and 2007.  As general manager of South Asia he is reported to have built it into being the region with the highest margins.

Durchslag started his career at McKinsey & Company where he served American and Asian technology clients for eight years in their New York and Greater China offices. He was elected a partner after four years and launched or led several international locations.

Durchslag said: "I believe in Skype not only because I've been a user since the early days, but also because I'm convinced the opportunities ahead for Skype are tremendous given how the world is changing."