Everyone knows who Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis are. Lazaridis founded Research in Motion back in 1984 and Balsillie joined in 1992. Together, the pair have led RIM since the early 90s. But who is Thorsten Heins, the new President and CEO of the Canadian company? Where did he come from and how is he going to keep RIM from falling over the edge?
Originally from Germany, Heins joined RIM in 2007 after twenty-three years at Siemens. He rose through the ranks at Siemens and became its Chief Technology Officer before he was wooed away by RIM. Heins joined RIM as Chief Operating Officer, eventually overseeing RIM’s hardware, software and sales departments. He will take over as CEO and President of company and lead it either into oblivion or back to its glory days.
To introduce its new CEO, RIM published a short video of Heins talking about the company and its technology. In the seven minute soliloquy, Heins expresses his enthusiasm about the company and its direction. His statement that “if we continue doing well what we are doing, I see no problems with us being in the top three players worldwide in the next years in wireless” makes us wonder if Heins has the qualities to shake things up at RIM, but it’s too early to pass judgement on his leadership.
We will have better insight into this transition after RIM’s conference call which will be held Monday (Jan. 23, 2012) morning at 8:00am (EST) to discuss this transition. You can listen to the webcast on RIM’s website and come back here for analysis.