BlackBerry's chief operating, marketing, and financial officers are
leaving as recently appointed CEO John Chen makes his mark on the
struggling mobile vendor.
COO Kristian Tear, CMO Frank Boulben
and CFO Brian Bidulka all are leaving BlackBerry, the company announced
on Monday. James Yersh, the former controller and head of compliance,
will take over the top financial spot.
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No
replacements were named for Tear or Boulben, who both were hired by
ousted CEO Thorsten Heins in May 2012 as BlackBerry geared up for the
launch of BlackBerry 10 smartphones and a renewed consumer marketing
effort. BlackBerry 10 didn't launch until the following January, and the
company has since moved away from the consumer business.
"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," Chen said in a press
release. Departing CFO Bidulka, who worked at BlackBerry for eight
years, will remain as a special adviser to assist with the transition
for the rest of the company's fiscal year.
BlackBerry named Chen
as CEO on Nov. 4, the same day the company said it would accept a $1
billion loan from a consortium of investors but drop plans to sell
itself. Under Heins, BlackBerry had pinned its hopes on the BlackBerry
10 platform but ended up taking an inventory charge of nearly $1 billion that was mostly associated with the recently introduced Z10 handset.
"I
will continue to align my senior management team and organizational
structure, and refine the company's strategy," Chen said in the press
release.
He is the former CEO of Sybase, which entered the mobile market under Chen and was later sold to SAP.
Also on Monday, BlackBerry announced the resignation of board member Roger Martin, who had served since 2007.
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