BlackBerry’s COO and CMO Leave, CFO Gets Replaced

Today, Canadian mobile phone maker BlackBerry has announced new changes in the executive team, as the company’s chief operating officer and chief marketing officer will leave the company.

As part of the re-organization plans that the handset vendor is undergoing, Kristian Tear, BlackBerry CFO, and Frank Boulben, the company’s CMO, will leave BlackBerry. Furthermore, the smartphone designer has announced that Brian Bidulka, currently chief financial officer at the company, will be replaced by James Yersh, but that he will remain with the vendor as a special advisor to the CEO for the remainder of the fiscal year. "I thank Kristian and Frank for their efforts on behalf of BlackBerry. I look forward to working more directly with the talented teams of engineers, and the sales and marketing teams around the world to facilitate the BlackBerry turn-around and to drive innovation," said John Chen, executive chair and CEO of BlackBerry. "I also thank Brian for his eight years of dedicated service to BlackBerry. I look forward to working with James and his Finance team as we move forward, execute on our plans and deliver long-term value for our shareholders."

Chen has also noted that BlackBerry enjoys a strong cash position at the moment, and that it will continue to deliver trusted and secure mobile device management solutions to enterprises around the world. He has also noted that, moving forth, the company will work hard “to deliver the best devices, mobile security and device management through BES 10, provide multi-platform messaging solutions with BBM, and expand adoption of QNX embedded systems.” James Yersh, the next BlackBerry CFO, has been with the company since 2008. He served as senior vice president, controller and head of compliance for the vendor, and enjoys over 15 years of expertise in the telecoms industry.

Roger Martin, a board member at the mobile phone maker since 2007, has resigned, the company also announced. Furthermore, the vendor unveiled plans to reveal its financial results for the third quarter of its fiscal year 2014 on December 20.

BlackBerry logo
Image credits to BlackBerry

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