Up For The Challenge? RIM Taps New CMO, COO

RIM tapped Kristian Tear, a former executive vice president at Sony Mobile Communications, as the company’s new COO, and Frank Boulben, former executive vice president of strategy, marketing and sales at wireless networking vendor LightSquared, as its new CMO.

Tear and Boulben, among other things, will first be tasked with generating interest in the company’s upcoming BlackBerry 10 OS software and ensuring a smooth launch later this year.

[Related: RIM Launches Mobile Fusion To Manage Blackberry, iOS, Android Devices ]

"Kristian and Frank bring extensive knowledge of the rapidly changing wireless global market and will help RIM as we sharpen our focus on delivering long-term value to our stakeholders," said Thorsten Heins, RIM’s CEO, in a statement. "Most importantly, both Kristian and Frank possess a keen understanding of the emerging trends in mobile communications and computing."

Heins, who became CEO in January after the resignation of longtime co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, has long emphasized the importance of on-boarding a CMO at RIM who could breathe new life into the BlackBerry brand and refocus the company’s efforts on winning back much of the market share it has lost to Apple and Google over the past few years, particularly within its traditional enterprise user base.

Boulben, who has also served as global director of commercial strategy for Vodafone Group and was executive vice president of brand and consumer marketing for Orange Group, said he's up for that challenge.

"We all know how fast the mobile arena evolves and, with the BlackBerry 10 platform, I believe RIM will once again change the way individuals and enterprises engage with each other and the world around them," Boulben said in a statement. "I could not resist the opportunity to be part of that transformation."

Tear, who also has held a variety of operational leadership roles with Ericsson in Europe, Asia and Latin America, will oversee RIM's global operations, supply chain, and research and development.

In its fourth-quarter earnings release in March, RIM reported a loss of $125 million, representing a staggering year-over-year decline from the $934 million in profit it reported for the first quarter of 2011. As part of a larger strategic review announced during the fourth-quarter earnings call with investors, Heins revealed a series of board and executive shuffles, including the ousting of former co-CEO and board member Jim Balsillie, along with former COO Jim Rowan, who he said left to "pursue other interests."

Heins also announced in March the retirement of CTO David Yach, who had been with the company for 13 years.