BlackBerry announces boardroom shake-up

BlackBerry has announced a further boardroom shake-up following the departure of chief executive officer, Thorsten Heins earlier this month.

The Canadian smartphone manufacturer has now said three top executives, including its chief financial officer, are stepping down from its board. Brian Bidulka will be replaced as CFO by James Yersh, while chief operating officer (COO) Kristian Tear and chief marketing officer (CMO) Frank Boulben will also leave, with their replacements yet to be named.

“BlackBerry has a strong cash position and continues, by a significant margin, to be the top provider of trusted and secure mobile device management solutions to enterprise customers around the world,” said interim CEO John Chen, who said there would be more management changes in future.

“Building on this core strength, and in conjunction with these management changes, I will continue to align my senior management team and organisational structure, and refine the company’s strategy to ensure we 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.”

As part of the shak-up, earlier this month, BlackBerry appointed Yudi Moodley as its new managing director (MD) for Africa, in place of Alexandra Zaguy.