RIM's New Chairwoman Looks to Shake Things Up

Research In Motion' new chairperson, Barbara Stymiest, wants to shake up the struggling company's board. Facing the same challenge as new CEO Thorsten Heins—to keep afloat a sinking ship—Barbara wants to build a "high-performing board and a high-quality management team" to "drive change."

In an interview with Bloomberg, Barbara said that RIM "can improve on product execution" and that "Thorsten is well-positioned" for this shift. The chairwoman also noted that RIM will continue to make "strategic acquisitions of patents."

However, concerned investors remain skeptical. Merchant bank Jaguar Financial says that Barbara "isn't strong enough to cause dramatic change." CEO Vic Alboini went so far as to call her "part of the problem."

Either way, Barbara's name brings an amusing irony to the board—to stymie is "to prevent or hinder progess," which is arguably what the former chairman Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie were doing for the past year. Hopefully, Stymiest has the opposite effect.