BlackBerry Executive Team

Thorsten Heins was named President and Chief Executive Officer at BlackBerry in January 2012. He previously served as Chief Operating Officer, Product Engineering, overseeing the BlackBerry smartphone portfolio world-wide.

Prior to joining BlackBerry in 2007, Thorsten held several positions in the wireless arena including the Chief Technology Officer of Siemens' Communications Division and several general management positions in Hardware and Software businesses.

Thorsten holds a master's degree in Science and Physics from the University of Hannover in Germany. Thorsten also serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the Canadian German Chamber of Industry and Commerce Inc.

Brian Bidulka is Chief Financial Officer at BlackBerry serving as the Company's senior financial officer overseeing all financial reporting and compliance activities.

Prior to joining BlackBerry in 2005, Brian held numerous finance positions at Molson Inc. and Ernst & Young LLP.

Brian received his Chartered Accountant's designation in 1989 and holds an Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree from McMaster University.

Frank Boulben was named Chief Marketing Officer at BlackBerry, effective June 2012. As CMO, Frank will lead all of BlackBerry’s global marketing functions.

Frank has more than 20 years of international experience in the wireless industry with senior marketing and sales roles at global wireless carriers such as Vodafone and Orange. Most recently, he was the Executive Vice President for Strategy, Marketing and Sales for LightSquared. Frank has served on the Board of the GSM Association and was the Chairman of the Strategy Committee.

Frank holds diplomas from the École Polytechnique and from the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, where he studied mathematics, physics and economics.

Kristian Tear was named Chief Operating Officer at BlackBerry, effective August 2012. As COO, Kristian is responsible for research and development, products, global sales, manufacturing and supply chain.

Prior to joining BlackBerry, Kristian held several senior management roles at Sony Ericsson. He most recently served as Executive Vice President at Sony Mobile Communications AB, a subsidiary of Sony Corp. He brings close to 25 years of wireless experience in general management, operations and services, sales, and marketing within the telecommunications, infrastructure and consumer industries.

Kristian holds a Masters Degree in Science from the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden and completed the Ericsson Executive MBA program at Columbia University in New York.

Steve Zipperstein was appointed to the role of Chief Legal Officer, effective July 2012.

Steve has over 30 years of legal experience and most recently served as General Counsel from 2003 through 2011 for Verizon Wireless. Prior to the formation of Verizon he served as Deputy General Counsel with corporate-wide responsibility for state regulatory, litigation and compliance matters for GTE Corporation. Before joining GTE/Verizon, Steve worked for almost 10 years with the United States Department of Justice as a federal prosecutor.

Steve is a graduate of UCLA with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and of U.C. Davis Law School with a juris doctorate, where he also served as Law Review Editor and Member of the Moot Court Board.