I really wouldn't be surprised if the decision to shut down work on their own software platform had already been taken and he was hired and told to decide between Android or WP7 - with the expectation no doubt being that as he was from Microsoft he'd favor the latter.
The germ of this deal probably dates to the early days of WP7 development - seriously, Microsoft would have been negligent if they were not shopping for partners early on. For those deep inside the phone business, it probably has been a well known rumor for some time, which would explain the course taken by Motorola and HTC more plausibly than the corporate spite the article assumes.
But if the board wanted to consider switching to "someone else's platform", why would they hire someone from Microsoft?
Does this suggest that the board wanted to do a deal with Microsoft all along? If so, why would they need to hire him to do it?
Or that they didn't know what they wanted and this guy seized the initiative?
Edit: answering my own question. I think the board probably brought this guy in to take the heat in case this deal goes really bad from a PR and legal perspective.
