Co-CEOs Resign at RIM

RIM announced that Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie have resigned as Co-CEOs & Co-Chairmen of the company. Lazaridis will stay on the Board as Vice Chairman and Balsillie will serve as a Director. In response to the resignations, the company has named COO Thorsten Heins as CEO of the company. Prior to joining RIM in 2007, Heins served as the CTO of Siemens' Communications Division. Barbara Stymiest, a Board Member since 2007, has been named as the company’s new Independent Chairman.

Google Elects Former VMware Exec to Board; Division Head Promoted

Google has elected Diane Greene, 55, to its Board. Greene is the Co-founder and former CEO of VMware. Earlier in her career, she served as an EVP at EMC and held technical leadership positions at Silicon Graphics, Tandem, and Sybase. Currently, Greene serves on the Board of Directors at Intuit.

Executive Reorganization at Microsoft

Microsoft announced that Robert Wahbe, the Corporate VP of the Server & Tools Marketing Group, has resigned from the company. Wahbe has been with the Server and Tools Group during his entire tenure at Microsoft. He joined Microsoft in 1996 after Microsoft acquired Colusa Software, a startup which he founded. Takeshi Numoto, the former Corporate VP of the Microsoft Office Product Management Group, has assumed Wahbe’s former title. Numoto joined Microsoft in 1997 as a Business Development Manager on the Windows NT Program Management Team.

NETWORKING

Dutch Phone Company Loses CFO & Board Member

KPN announced the resignation of CFO Carla Smits-Nusteling, 45. Eric Hageman, the CEO of KPN Belgium, and Steven van Schilfgaarde, the CEO of KPN Corporate Market, have been appointed as interim CFOs while the company looks for a permanent replacement. Before joining KPN, Smits-Nusteling held executive positions at Dutch Mail and TNT Express.

GM & Ford Veteran Named CIO at Dell

Dell has appointed Adriana Karaboutis as VP & Global CIO. Most recently, Karaboutis was VP of IT at Dell. In this position, she supported product groups, manufacturing, procurement, and supply chain operations. Before joining Dell in 2010, Karaboutis served at the Global Manufacturing & Labor Relations Information Officer at General Motors and held executive positions at Ford. She is a member of the Manufacturing Executive Leadership Board and a past President of the Michigan Council of Women in Technology.

New President & COO at Rackspace

Rackspace Hosting, a cloud computing and hosting provider, has promoted Lew Moorman, 41, to President. Most recently, he served as Chief Strategy Officer and President of the Cloud business. Prior to joining Rackspace in 2000, Moorman held several positions at the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company. He serves as a Commissioner on Tech America's Cloud2 Commission and as a Board Member of the Texas Biomedical Research Institute.

Academic Joins the Board at Pfizer

Pfizer has elected Dr. Helen Hobbs, 59, to its Board. She is an Investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and is a Professor of Internal Medicine and Molecular Genetics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She also serves on the Board of the McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development. Hobbs is the recipient of the Distinguished Scientist Award from the American Heart Association.

Telecom CEO Named Chair of Auto Parts Manufacturer

Autoliv has elected Lars Nyberg, 60, as Chairman. He has been on Autoliv’s Board since 2004. Nyberg is the CEO of TeliaSonera, a leading Nordic and Baltic telecom company. He is also the Chairman of DataCard, a manufacturer of card printers. Earlier in his career, Nyberg served as the Chairman & CEO of NCR and held several managerial positions at Philips.

January 2012

Read about Second Half 2011 Technology board and executive moves
Two of the largest technology companies in the world—IBM and HP—now have female CEOs. Yahoo named PayPal President Scott Thompson as the company's new CEO.

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