Brian McAndrews

We've been wondering what former aQuantive CEO Brian McAndrews would do after leaving his executive role at Microsoft last month. A new online advertising startup? Going back to his roots in TV? What we didn't expect was a move into telecommunications. McAndrews was just named to the board of Clearwire, the heavily-funded Kirkland wireless broadband company.

The board seat is a bit of a departure for McAndrews, who before selling aQuantive to Microsoft for $6 billion worked at ABC and General Mills. His other board seats include WhitePages.com and Fisher Communications, which fit his background in advertising.

Could the appointment of McAndrews signal that the company is looking to go deeper into content and media? Maybe. Or perhaps McAndrews just wanted to learn something new. At the TechFlash Live speaker series last month, McAndrews mentioned his varied career.

"I started in packaged goods at General Mills. I worked in media at ABC. I obviously ran an online advertising business, now spent some time at Microsoft. So I'm not wed to any particular model. I get excited about different kinds of businesses that I find interesting, where I feel I can personally contribute, learn and grow in the job," he said.

McAndrews was appointed to the board by Sprint, which is the majority shareholder of Clearwire. And his involvement signals that he's more than willing to take on big challenges.

Bloomberg reported earlier today that Clearwire -- even after raising $3.2 billion last year from Intel, Google and others -- could face a $2 billion funding gap.

“It’s clear that capital markets are closed for either borrowers or companies that are trying to raise capital, regardless of what kind of company it is,” said Clearwire CEO Ben Wolff. “We’ve seen challenges across the board.”