TORONTO: BlackBerry has announced the appointment of John J Giamatteo as its new Chief Executive Officer and as a member of its Board of Directors, effective immediately.

Richard (Dick) Lynch, who served as interim CEO since November 4, will continue as Board Chair.

The company also announced that it will separate the IoT and cybersecurity businesses, and they will operate as fully standalone divisions.

BlackBerry said it will no longer pursue a subsidiary IPO of the IoT business.

“Giamatteo’s deep industry experience and outstanding track record of inspiring teams and delivering operational excellence means he is strongly positioned to drive this critical transformation of BlackBerry,” said Mike Daniels, Chair of the Compensation, Nomination and Governance Committee of the BlackBerry Board.

Giamatteo has served as the President of BlackBerry’s Cybersecurity business unit since October 2021.

He has over 30 years of experience with global technology companies. Prior to BlackBerry, he was President and Chief Revenue Officer at McAfee.

“I am excited to lead the next phase of BlackBerry’s evolution as its CEO. BlackBerry’s IoT and Cybersecurity businesses have market-leading technology, exceptional teams and large market opportunities,” said Giamatteo.

He also served as Chief Operating Officer at AVG Technologies, a leading provider of internet and mobile security and held leadership positions with Solera, RealNetworks and Nortel Networks.

Based in Waterloo, Ontario, BlackBerry secures more than 500 million endpoints including over 235 million vehicles.