BlackBerry CEO John Chen 'Interim' Title Dropped, Staying Longer Following Thorsten Heins Departure

He was initially brought in on a temporary basis, but it appears BlackBerry is keeping its interim CEO longer than expected.

Following Thorsten Heins' departure as CEO of BlackBerry, former Sybase chairman John S. Chen was named as an interim successor until a new CEO was named. As reported by the New York Times, the "interim" name has been dropped from Chen's title.

According to BlackBerry spokesperson Adam Emery, Chen will remain with BlackBerry until the further notice.

"After earnings, and again in meetings with media and analysts at [the International Consumer Electronics Show], John said that he would be BlackBerry's C.E.O. until the company is back on solid financial footing," said Emery.

Emery added, "The search for a CEO has been put on the back burner for now."

Chen took over as BlackBerry CEO in November 2013 following the company encountering consecutive financial losses such as $4.4 billion during its last quarter.

While serving as interim CEO at BlackBerry, Chen has removed several senior executives from the company, signed an outsourcing deal regarding design of its products, and promised to refocus the company to serve corporate and government employees.

"At Sybase, Mr. Chen was credited with turning around the struggling database company by making an early move into mobile data systems for businesses," reported Ian Austen of The New York Times. "Sybase was eventually acquired by SAP, the large German corporate software maker."

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