NetApp's senior director for corporate relations, Eric Brown, is off to sprinkle some special PR magic at Yahoo!.

That's according to the WSJ which reports Brown will run Yahoo's corporate PR, reporting to Elisa Steele, chief marketing officer at Yahoo.

Steele worked at NetApp from May 2005 to March this year as an SVP for corporate marketing, and helped in the creation of NetApp's new brand identity last year.

Steele's responsibilities include Yahoo's branding. She reports to Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz who took over that position from Jerry Yang in January. She had been a board member at NetApp.

At a time when NetApp has suddenly become embroiled in a contested takeover for Data Domain with EMC, the loss of its corporate PR head will not be welcome. ®

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