[Buzz_Dengue]

Two More Senior Staff Leave BlackBerry Maker RIM
By Alastair Sharp 3:19pm EDT

TORONTO (Reuters) - Executives in charge of developer relations and business outreach at Research In Motion have left the company, the latest in a string of departures this year as the BlackBerry maker trims its workforce.

Tyler Lessard, the company's senior vice-president for global alliances and developer relations, "is moving on to pursue other interests," RIM said in a statement on Thursday.

A source with direct knowledge of the situation told Reuters that Jeff McDowell, senior vice-president for platform marketing and alliances, left the company two months ago.

Both exits were first reported by the crackberry.com blog, but RIM only confirmed the departure of Lessard.

Lessard has been replaced by Alec Saunders, who once worked for QNX Software before QNX was bought by RIM.

QNX software powers RIM's PlayBook tablet computer and will be used in products RIM has dubbed "superphones", which it is set to launch next year.

McDowell, whose job was to expand RIM's global sales to businesses and to market its software and services, was a keynote speaker at RIM's BlackBerry World conference in May.

Saunders will be at RIM's developer conference next month in San Francisco, where a major PlayBook upgrade is expected to add native email and calendar functions, as well as some compatibility with Google's Android software.

Earlier on Thursday, RIM confirmed its commitment to the PlayBook and QNX after an analyst suggested the Canadian smartphone maker might walk away from the tablet market, which is dominated by Apple's iPad.

RIM has witnessed a stream of high-profile departures from its developer relations and marketing teams in recent months and in July it said it was slashing about 11 percent of its workforce due to falling sales and profit.

Mike Kirkup, a director of developer relations, resigned in August. RIM's head of marketing, Keith Pardy, left in March, just ahead of the PlayBook launch, and two of his staff later exited for jobs with Samsung, a fierce rival whose phones and tablets use Google's Android system.

A chief operating officer, Don Morrison, resigned in July after taking a medical leave.

RIM's shares were down more than 5 percent at mid-afternoon on Thursday in a broadly depressed Nasdaq market.

(Editing by Peter Galloway)
Two more senior staff leave BlackBerry maker RIM | Reuters

[i7guy]

Sometimes housecleaning can be a good thing.

[Buzz_Dengue]

Both exits were first reported by the crackberry.com blog, but RIM only confirmed the departure of Lessard.

... and a good, widely distributed, plug for Crackberry.com...

[anon(4018671)]

Yeah this was on CB front page a day or so ago. Probably where Reuters go for info hehe

Good/Bad??? Time will tell I guess.

But cool to get some new old blood. QNX seem cool to me. Has anyone seen the QNX truck with the killer ad?

check here On Q: Two naughty! My favorite QNX marketing campaign

[sam_b77]

Since the OP keeps an eye on senior execs leaving big companies, I was just wondering if the OP can tell me how many senior execs left Goldman Sachs, Samsung, Ford, GM, IBM, HTC, Google, Microsoft?
Or does the OP have a patent on spinning any news on RIM into a negative? I know for sure that there are a few folks here who would sue the OP for IP on being negative about RIM.

[Buzz_Dengue]

Since the OP keeps an eye on senior execs leaving big companies, I was just wondering if the OP can tell me how many senior execs left Goldman Sachs, Samsung, Ford, GM, IBM, HTC, Google, Microsoft?
Or does the OP have a patent on spinning any news on RIM into a negative? I know for sure that there are a few folks here who would sue the OP for IP on being negative about RIM.

The OP bases his posts on his personal experience with his Storm 2, news releases and earnings calls from RIM. If thou dost think the OP negative about RIM you should read some of the OP's other posts and get yourself informed. Who is doing the spinning here?

[sam_b77]

I share the OP's pain on the Storm. Had it. But its time to move on. The storm has passed.

[Buzz_Dengue]

The storm has passed.

My Storm will not pass for 10 more months unfortunately... no buy out in my future. New every two...

[Economist101]

Or does the OP have a patent on spinning any news on RIM into a negative? I know for sure that there are a few folks here who would sue the OP for IP on being negative about RIM.

He posted an article from another site without adding his own commentary. How is that spinning? Now you might accuse him of posting only certain kinds of news, but that's a different allegation than "spinning."

[eprklims]

Jeff was part of the layoffs. It was relatively surprising to many of my former colleagues there.

[AZ87]

Sounds like an upgrade since they hired a guy who used to work with QNX.

[Tre Lawrence]

Sounds like an upgrade since they hired a guy who used to work with QNX.

Okay. Wow.

Now that is some good spin... yessir!

[AZ87]

Sorry, you're right. Its RIM in the news. It has to be a negative thing. You should read Alec Saunders bio. With everyone complaining about the lack of apps and lack of developers RIM should probably just leave everything as is. That should make everyone happy.

[Shlooky]

Next up...Mike and Jim

[Tre Lawrence]

Next up...Mike and Jim

Harsh!

Y'all need to leave the Waterloo Two alone!

[maddie1128]

I am afraid if Mike and Jim go- so does Blackberry. I, for one do not wish to start all over with someone new. I know that those two can get it together and give us the products we want. I see what they did with the os7 devices and they are on the right path again!