BlackBerry appoints new president of global sales
Struggling smartphone maker gets Cisco, Apple, Avaya, Lucent and Texas Instruments veteran
BlackBerry has appointed Carl Wiese as president of global sales. Wiese joins BlackBerry from Cisco, where he spent more than a decade in senior leadership positions, most recently as senior vice president leading the company’s global collaboration business, directing sales and go-to-market strategy.
As far as BlackBerry gadgets are concerned, one of his major priorities may be getting them back in the shops and expanding the channel, as major mobile operators like EE don’t bother stocking BlackBerry smartphones anymore.
“I am pleased to welcome Carl – a veteran sales leader – to BlackBerry to be the head of our global sales organisation,” said John Chen, executive chairman and CEO of BlackBerry. “We are deeply committed to working with our customers to bring them the most innovative and secure solutions, and Carl will be central to that effort.
“Carl has extensive experience in enterprise software and emerging technology solutions, which will be instrumental as BlackBerry moves toward stabilising revenue and sustaining profitability.”
Wiese will succeed John Sims, who has left the company. During his tenure at Cisco, Wiese successfully drove the company’s sales and deployment for new and emerging technologies that represented some of the company’s highest potential growth segments.
Previously, Wiese held executive positions at Apple, Avaya, Lucent and Texas Instruments.