Wow. There’s a hiring spree at BlackBerry as evidenced by this press release:
James S. Mackey was appointed Executive Vice President for Corporate Development and Strategic Planning, joining the Company with years of experience executing highly successful corporate strategies that drive growth. Mark Wilson was named Senior Vice President of Marketing and brings extensive experience building brand preference and driving integrated marketing for a number of well-known companies.
“Jim and Mark are important appointments for BlackBerry as they bring extensive experience and add the necessary leadership and depth that will help us drive our transformation,” said John Chen, Executive Chair and CEO of BlackBerry. “I have worked extensively with both of them in the past, have the utmost respect for their experience and accomplishments, and we have developed close and trusted relationships with each other that will enable us to cohesively manage the changes required to reshape BlackBerry.”
I will note that just like yesterday’s announcement, there’s no mention of BlackBerry CEO John Chen being the interim CEO. But it’s clear that the brain trust around Chen is building. We’ll see if it makes a difference to their fortunes.