Blackberry CMO exits amid exodus of C-­suite execs

Blackberry marketing chief Frank Boulben is to exit the company alongside its CFO and COO, as the under-fire handset manufacturer continues its ongoing restructure following the entry of new CEO John Chen earlier this month.

Boulben-Frank-BlackBerry-2013-460
Boulben joined Blackberry as CMO in May of last year.

The Canada­ based manufacturer yesterday (25 November) announced the overhaul, which will also see COO Kristian Tear leave the company, as well as the exit of CFO Brian Bidulka, as it announced details of its next financial results to be announced on 20 December.

Blackberry did not discuss who will head up its marketing activity in the wake of Boulben’s departure, nor who will assume the role of COO, but did confirm that CFO duties will be assumed by James Yersh, formerly a senior VP at the company.

Outgoing CFO Bidulka is to remain at Blackberry as an adviser to its CEO Chen, who joined earlier this month as the company ousted his predecessor Thorsten Heins, while abandoning earlier plans to be bought by a consortium led by Fairfax Capital.

Chen adds: “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 and messaging solutions with BBM.”

It is widely believed that Boulden is exiting the company largely due to the failure of its marketing strategy around the Blackberry 10, which has thus far failed to achieve mass market take-up.

Boulben joined Blackberry in May 2012 and has overseen the relaunch of a number of handsets running on the Blackberry 10 OS, having previously held high profile roles at telecoms firms Orange and Vodafone.

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