T-Mobile USA’s chief marketing officer
is ending his 17-year career with the company just weeks into a new ad campaign
and comeback effort.  

Cole Brodman’s retirement goes into
effect at the end of May, but he will act as an adviser to the company after he
leaves his post, T-Mobile said in a statement. 

Brodman was appointed to his current
post less than two years ago, when he was moved from his position as chief
technology officer during a management shakeup that replaced former president
and CEO Robert Dotson with current chief executive Philipp Humm. 

He held a number of other executive
positions at T-Mobile over the years, including senior vice president of
product development.

Brodman spearheaded T-Mobile’s HSPA+
push, which allowed it to market “4G speeds” before it had an actual
LTE network, and was instrumental in the company’s adoption of Android-based
smartphones. Under his leadership, T-Mobile launched the first-ever Android
smartphone, the G1. 

In a 2010 interview with Wireless Week, Brodman said the operating systems T-Mobile had been
working with “were simply not open enough or robust enough to do the
things that we thought were necessary for people to be able to communicate the
way they wanted to,” he said. “When (Google’s Andy Rubin) walked through the
door with Android, we thought this is potentially one of the answers.” 

T-Mobile did not name a successor to
Brodman in its announcement. The Wall Street Journal, which first reported Brodman’s departure, said marketing executive Andrew
Sherrard will serve as his interim replacement. 

The collapse of the AT&T buyout last
year gave T-Mobile the spectrum and money it needed to finally move forward
with LTE, and in February the company announced it would begin rolling out the
new network in 2013.  

Last month, T-Mobile rolled out new ads
as part of the lead-up to a brand re-launch this fall. The “Alter
Ego” advertising campaign replaced the girly ensemble of its perky brand
ambassador with a leather motorcycle outfit to symbolize the “speed and
capabilities” of its network.  

The company’s overhaul has also meant
layoffs. In March, T-Mobile said it would cut 1,900 employees and close call
centers in six states. More job losses could be in store as the company moves
to “restructure and optimize” some of its other operations by the end
of June.