Current Board Member Richard Lynch
appointed Board Chair and Interim CEO
WATERLOO, ON, Oct. 30,
2023 /PRNewswire/ -- BlackBerry Limited (NYSE:
BB; TSX: BB) today announced that John
Chen, Executive Chair and CEO of BlackBerry, will retire
from the Company effective November 4,
2023. This aligns with the terms of Mr. Chen's contract and
follows the conclusion of the Project Imperium evaluation.
Richard (Dick) Lynch will succeed
Mr. Chen as Board Chair and will also serve as Interim Chief
Executive Officer while BlackBerry completes its search for a
permanent CEO.
"The BlackBerry Board of Directors would like to express its
gratitude to John for his decade of strong leadership. His
achievement of saving BlackBerry and repositioning it as a software
company with leading Cybersecurity and IoT technologies has been
remarkable," said Prem Watsa, Lead
Director of the BlackBerry Board.
"It has been an honor to lead and transform this iconic company
over the past decade. I'm proud to have been able to establish
BlackBerry's vision of a trusted, software-defined world and to
position the company to unlock value through the separation of our
core business units into two separate operating companies," said
Mr. Chen. "I want to thank everyone across the BlackBerry community
– the Board, employees, customers, partners, and more – for your
support during my tenure and wish the company every success in the
future."
"I have known John Chen for
almost two decades and have always been impressed with his focus
and leadership. I want to thank John for his accomplishments and
dedication to BlackBerry during a critical era for the Company,"
said Mike Daniels, Chair of the
Compensation, Nomination and Governance Committee of the BlackBerry
Board.
Appointment of Board Chair and Interim CEO
"The Board has determined that it is in the best interests of
the company to appoint interim executive management to provide
continued stability and continuity for BlackBerry as we work
through the transition to a new permanent CEO," said Mr. Watsa.
"With his deep industry experience and strong leadership track
record, Dick is well-positioned to continue advancing our strategy
with the Board's ongoing support and insight."
Mr. Lynch joined the BlackBerry Board in 2013 and serves as a
member of its Compensation, Nomination and Governance Committee. He
previously served as Executive Vice-President and Chief Technology
Officer of Verizon Communications and Verizon Wireless. He is a
director of Cohere Technologies and iconectiv and has served as
Chairman of Ribbon Communications and as a director of Ruckus
Wireless.
About BlackBerry
BlackBerry (NYSE: BB; TSX: BB) provides intelligent security
software and services to enterprises and governments around the
world. The company secures more than 500M endpoints including over 235M vehicles. Based in Waterloo, Ontario, the company leverages AI
and machine learning to deliver innovative solutions in the areas
of cybersecurity, safety, and data privacy solutions, and is a
leader in the areas of endpoint security, endpoint management,
encryption, and embedded systems. BlackBerry's vision is clear - to
secure a connected future you can trust.
For more information, visit BlackBerry.com and follow
@BlackBerry.
Investor Contact:
BlackBerry Investor
Relations
+1 (519)
888-7465
investorrelations@blackberry.com
Media Contact:
BlackBerry Media
Relations
+1 (519)
597-7273
mediarelations@blackberry.com
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SOURCE BlackBerry Limited