BlackBerry CFO, COO and CMO Depart In Management Restructure

BlackBerry has announced that its chief operating officer Kristian Tear, chief marketing officer Frank Boulben and chief financial officer Brian Bidulka are to leave the company as part of a management shakeup at the struggling Canadian manufacturer.

James Yersh, who has previously served as BlackBerry’s senior vice president, controller and as head of compliance, will replace Bidulka, who himself will continue to serve as an advisor to new CEO John Chen until the end of the fiscal year in order to ease the transition.

BlackBerry Management

“I thank Kristian and Frank for their efforts on behalf of BlackBerry,” said Chen. “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.

“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 himself was only appointed earlier this month, replacing Thorsten Heins in the wake of the company’s decision to abandon plans to sell itself to its largest shareholder Fairfax Holdings in favour of a new $1 billion financing deal, the majority of which is being provided by Canadian firms.

However Leo de Bever, CEO of AIMCo, one of Canada’s largest pension funds, has cast doubt on BlackBerry’s chance of a recovery, claiming that at no point in discussions regarding a potential takeover of the firm did he see a concrete business plan to turn its situation around.

BlackBerry has had a bumpy year! Try our 2013 BlackBerry quiz!

Originally published on eWeek.