BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) announced yesterday that Howard Stevens would become its new Senior Vice President of Global Carrier Sales. Stevens has more than 20 years experience in telecommunications sales.
BlackBerry CEO has big expectations for Stevens
Development and implementation of go-to-market strategies that will support the expansion of BlackBerry’s product portfolio will now be the responsibility of Stevens. The product portfolio currently comprises several devices, enterprise software and value-added services offerings.
In announcing the appointment of Stevens, CEO John Chen said that the company is in the midst of a strong product road-map that includes BES 12, BBM Protected, Passport and BlackBerry Classic (coming soon). “Under Howard Stevens’ leadership, we will work more closely with our carrier partners to put these innovative products into the hands of more customers and position BlackBerry for faster growth,” noted Chen.
Chen believes that the sale of the new BlackBerry devices – Classic and Passport – will get a boost with Stevens joining as he will help the company to get on the networks of more carriers. Stevens will be assigned a number of critical tasks such as the development of new marketing ideas to sell more smartphones, preparing devices for enterprise software and purchase of value-added services.
Impressive track record
Stevens will start to work immediately at the company’s UK office based in Slough, and will report directly to. Chen. Before joining BlackBerry, Stevens served the Global Telecom business unit at SAP as the General Manager. He has also held senior positions at other well-known organizations. At Amdocs, a global leader in customer care and billing software for the communications industry, he held a sales leadership role. He held a similar role at Vallent, which provides performance management tools for the wireless service providers and at Chernikeeff Networks, the primary Cisco Systems reseller in the U.K.
Stevens track record highlights his proficiency in registering growth in revenue and margin, as well as leading large organizations. He also has a strong track record in sales team building and process building in entrepreneurial start-up environments.
On Monday, BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) shares closed down 2.32% at $10.94, and year to date shares are up around 50%.
