When David Devonshire was the CFO at Ingersoll-Rand Co. in the late 1990s, he was a key participant in the manufacturing company's effort to restructure its business so it would be less cyclical. When he was at Owens Corning, he had to deal with a slew of asbestos-related lawsuits.

As the new CFO of wireless giant Motorola Inc., the 56-year-old Devonshire also has his work cut out for him: Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola has been buffeted by the tech-sector implosion, posting a $3.9 billion loss in 2001–its first in 71 years. On top of that, the company has lost its dominance in the cellular-phone market to Nokia Corp., thanks to a series of missteps in its phone product lineup.

Though the company doesn't see itself returning to profitability until 2003, the good news is that Motorola has introduced a new line of cell phones that have received kudos from industry analysts. And the company's balance sheet, though languishing, is in decent shape. "By and large, their financial house is in order," says Todd Bernier, a stock analyst with Morningstar Inc. Motorola has replaced a lot of its short-term debt with longer maturities and has cut back on expenses by paring employees, Bernier says. "They've done a good job of managing their business during a sales slowdown." Now what Motorola needs, Bernier says, are "hot products" and a better economy.