RIM Says Chairman And CEO Jobs Must Remain Apart

Now that the co-ceos of Research In Motion, who also controlled the board, have ruined the company, the independent board members have decided the CEO job should be separate from the Chairman’s

The results of the review were, according to the company

During the course of fulfilling its mandate, the Committee confronted a major schism between current practice in its home market of Canada and the United States market, a much larger market for RIM’s products and an important market for the trading of its shares. On the one hand, Canadian organizations and various Canadian shareholders strongly prefer, if not demand, that RIM appoint an independent chair. They are supported by the fact that the majority of the TSX 60 and TSX Composite companies split the roles of chair of the board of directors and CEO and the majority of these companies have independent chairs. On the other hand, the majority of the largest 100 United States public companies and S&P 500 companies do not split the roles of chair and CEO and do not have independent chairs. And within the RIM eco-system of companies (competitors, distributors and customers) a combined chair/CEO is common. Faced with this schism, the Committee came to the point of view that the strong opposition to non-independent chairs in Canada should outweigh the other considerations, including current practice in the United States and in RIM’s ecosystem. While the Committee is comfortable that our Lead Director has performed the appropriate governance functions expected of that position up to the present, the Committee recommends that RIM should separate the roles of Chair and CEO and amend the Board mandate accordingly (See Schedule “A” for the Board Mandate). The Committee believes that appointing an independent Chair is the appropriate solution for RIM shareholders and will resolve the issue for RIM and its employees and business partners.

It is a little late for the action. Shareholders have already been beaten down by CEOs who could not run the company and a board without the leadership to dismiss them