After a long-awaited corporate governance review, Research In Motion (RIM) has decided the company’s joint chairman and CEO roles should be split.
The review, unveiled late Monday evening, came after long-time co-CEO/chairmen Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis stepped down from their positions at the Ontario-based company.
The report claims the embattled phone manufacturer is now on-track with the governance recommendations made.
For example, the review calls for the chair to serve as an independent member of the board – and last week the company nabbed former Toronto Stock Exchange CEO Barbara Stymiest to serve in the role of independent board chair.
The report also points out that there is a dichotomy between the corporate governance practices at major corporations in the US and Canada.
‘Canadian organizations and various Canadian shareholders strongly prefer, if not demand, that RIM appoint an independent chair,’ a move that is uncommon in the US. ‘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 US and in RIM’s ecosystem,’ the report notes.
Last April, the technology giant began facing the heat when Toronto-based Northwest & Ethical Investments submitted a proposal to RIM’s board of directors that called for the company to split the roles of chief executive and chairman.
