Yahoo hires former Adobe exec to lead applications group

Yahoo has hired Bryan Lamkin to head up the group that manages some of its highest-profile products and is an essential element of the Yahoo Open Strategy.

Lamkin will take on the role of senior vice president of Yahoo's Applications Products division, which encompasses its e-mail and instant messaging services, photo-hosting site Flickr, as well as Yahoo Answers, Groups, and e-mail and calendar service Zimbra. He will report directly to Executive Vice President of Products and Chief Technology Officer Ari Balogh.

As part of its Yahoo Open Strategy, the company is attempting to better integrate social connections with its online applications.

His role will be a central one at Yahoo in light of a recent reorganization led by CEO Carol Bartz, which unified Yahoo's product and technology groups under Balogh. Bartz said Tuesday she was dissatisfied with the unfocused engineering work at Yahoo and called for a new round of layoffs, in part to make room for new engineering talent.

Lamkin comes to Yahoo with 14 years of experience at Adobe, where he was senior vice president of the Creative Solutions Group. He managed strategy and development for Photoshop, Creative Suite, Dreamweaver, Flash, and Illustrator, according to a Yahoo spokesman. Lamkin retired from Adobe in 2006.

Lamkin replaces Scott Dietzen, who has acted as interim head of Yahoo's applications group since the reorg in February. Dietzen will now work on new product strategy in the group.

In other executive lineup changes, The Wall Street Journal reports that Yahoo's communications chief, Brad Williams, has left the company. Williams had headed the company's PR department since Jill Nash resigned in February.

CNET News' Stephen Shankland contributed to this report.

[Magicland]

There's a move of sheer brilliance. Hire the former head of the company that writes the buggiest, most bloated code on the planet to run your apps group. Anybody NOT hate Adobe Acrobat? Anybody???