» Appia has appointed Craig Forman as its executive chairman. He joins the white label app store company from his position as chairman at Where, the location-based media company acquired by Ebay earlier this year. Before Where, Forman has had a long career with senior roles at Earthlink (NSDQ: ELNK), Yahoo…

—The Weather Channel Companies: Patrick McCormack has been named VP pf mobile sales & strategy. McCormack will lead the company’s mobile and tablet sales efforts and strategy, and will oversee TWCC’s team of mobile sales managers. Based in New York, he’ll report to Beth Lawrence, EVP of ad sales and…

—Amobee: Trevor Healy is the company’s new CEO. He was a former chief innovation officer and board member of Telefónica Europe and former CEO of JAJAH. —Tapjoy: Shortly after having raised a fourth round of $30 million, Tapjoy has hired Al Wood as its CFO. He previously held the same…

—Verizon: Lowell McAdam is the latest addition to the operator’s board of directors. He has been the COO of Verizon since last October and was previously the CEO of Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ), which Verizon controls jointly with Vodafone (NYSE: VOD). (release)

—Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Mobile: Russell Buckley (pictured) is leaving Google’s mobile advertising unit AdMob, about a year after the company was bought by Google for $750 million, four months after CEO Omar Hamoui resigned, and two weeks after head of engineering Kevin Scott left to join LinkedIn as VP of…

—Vodafone: Gerard Kleisterlee will be the next chairman of Vodafone, succeeding Sir John Bond, who is retiring in July 2011. Kleisterlee is currently the CEO and Chairman of Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG). (via Release)

—Clearwire: The wireless operator has appointed John W. Stanton as chairman of the board of directors. He replaces Craig McCaw, who resigned at the end of December. Stanton has been a director at Clearwire (NSDQ: CLWR) since 2008 and has had a long career in wireless telecoms. Stanton was chairman…

—Google: John Hanke, a former head of Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Maps, is taking a new position inside the company, as the head of a new “incubator” to build products for the intersection between mobile, social and local. (via Forbes)

—Nimbuzz: Arthur Van De Poll is the new COO at Nimbuzz, which develops mobile apps that give users “free” calls, chat and messaging. He was previously an executive at UPS.

—Huawei: The Chinese maker of mobile phones and wireless network equipment has hired John Roese as its new SVP and general manager for Huawei North America R&D. He comes from Nortel, where he had been the CTO. [via BusinessWire]

—Chomp: Actor and new media investor Ashton Kutcher is joining the app discovery startup Chomp as an advisor. Kevin Rose, the creator of Digg, is Chomp’s other advisor, and the two will help the startup build relationships, as well as contribute to the product and marketing strategies. Chomp is available…

—Unsocial: Bruce Brown is now CEO of both Apptango and Unsocial and Tom Mooreland is now EVP. Brown, who had been serving as an advisor to the social app creator, was previously chairman and CEO of both Vertel and Efficient Networks. Mooreland was VP of worldwide sales and support at…

—Taptu: Mitch Lazar has been upped to CEO from president and COO. He was most recently managing director of Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) Mobile Europe. In 1997, he launched Turner’s mobile operations and led development for CNN and Cartoon Network’s mobile services. —Open Mobile Video Coalition: The OMVC elected LIN Media…

—Neustar Lisa Hook has been promoted to CEO from COO, while maintaining her post as president. She succeeds founding CEO Jeffrey Ganek who will remain chairman of the board. Prior to joining Neustar in 2008, Hook was president and CEO of Sunrocket, a consumer VOIP company. —AT&T: App development veteran…

—Nokia (NYSE: NOK) MeeGo: The handset maker’s higher-end Symbian alternative is due out on its first phone by year’s end, but Ari Jaaski, Nokia’s head of MeeGo devices, is leaving the company, Reuters reports.

—Myxer: Mike Carson has been appointed chief marketing officer. He most recently served as VP of marketing with FTD.COM Flowers and Gifts. —Zoove: Former CBSI head Joseph Gillespie has signed on as president and CEO for Zoove, the company that created StarStar abbreviated dial codes for mobile devices. He most…

—PocketGear: Three new execs join the team: Ken Hayes is now SVP of global sales and business development; Dov Cohn is VP of products and marketing; and Jim Harvey is VP of developer stores. Formerly a venture partner at Acta Wireless, Hayes will now oversee expand the company’s sales into…

—Verizon Wireless: Andrew Davies has been named Verizon’s new VP and CFO, effective November 15. He joined Vodafone in 2003, having most recently served as CFO of Vodafone Essar, the Indian subsidiary of Vodafone Group (NYSE: VOD). Davies replaces John Townsend, who has moved from Verizon Wireless to the post…

—Sprint: Product development SVP Kevin Packingham is leaving the company, WSJ reports. The news comes as Sprint (NYSE: S) saw a trio of executive departures in July. Packingham had led development of the Evo 4G and upcoming Epic smartphones. Next, he’ll run another company in Kansas City. His team will…