BlackBerry Elects Verizon Wireless, Ericsson Veterans To Board of Directors

BlackBerry Inc. (NASDAQ:BBRY), the No. 1 Canadian smartphone developer, elected two mobile industry executives to its board of directors as it continues its year-long shake-up to regain market share and profitable operations.

The Waterloo, Ontario, company said it had elected Richard Lynch, a former top executive with the Verizon Wireless unit of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), the No. 2 mobile carrier, and Bert Nordberg, a senior executive with Sweden's Ericsson Inc. (NYSE:ERIC), among the top makers of switches for mobile carriers.

Lynch had been chief technology officer of Verizon Communications since 2007 after serving in the same role at Verizon Wireless since 1990.

Nordberg had been CEO of Ericsson's now-disbanded Sony Ericsson mobile phone joint venture with Japan's Sony Corp. (NYSE:SNE) until 2011. Both men are electrical engineers.

The latest shift brings the board of the company known as Research in Motion until last week to 12, with 10 independent directors. Five have been elected over the past 13 months, including new CEO Thorsten Heins, 54.

BlackBerry began shipping the first member of the BlackBerry 10 family, the Z10, in Canada this week after initial sales began in the UK two weeks ago.

The company will close its fourth quarter on March 2.

Shares of BlackBerry fell 47 cents to $16.49 in Friday trading. They've risen 39 percent since Jan.2.