We know who Prem Watsa is, but who exactly is John S. Chen, the interim CEO of BlackBerry. John Chen previously served as the chairman and CEO of Sybase Inc., beginning in 1998. Under Mr. Chen’s leadership, Sybase was transformed from a mature technology company into a high-growth enterprise data management, data warehousing, mobility management and analytics innovator that was acquired by SAP AG in 2010.
At Sybase, Mr. Chen introduced the concept of the “Unwired Enterprise”, extending enterprise applications to mobile users. Prior to Sybase, Mr. Chen held a series of executive positions at Siemens AG, Pyramid Technology Corp., and Burroughs Corp. He started his career as a design engineer with Unisys Corp. Mr. Chen is currently a director of Wells Fargo & Company and The Walt Disney Company.
John S. Chen (born July 1, 1955) is also a director of Wells Fargo & Company and Walt Disney Company. A native of Hong Kong, John Chen graduated from Northfield Mount Hermon School, an elite prep school in Northfield, Massachusetts. He then went on to graduate magna cum laude from Brown University in 1978 with a BS degree in electrical engineering. In 1979 he received his MS degree in electrical engineering from the California Institute of Technology.
More about John Chen via Forbes and Wikipedia.