Thorsten Heins: Cantech Letter’s 2012 TSX Executive of the Year

Research in Motion CEO Thorsten Heins is the 2012 Cantech Letter TSX Executive of the Year.

For the first ten months of his tenure, Heins endured more doubt and scrutiny and outright ridicule than any rookie CEO should have to suffer. Regardless, he plodded on as the delay of RIM’s new BlackBerry 10 platform seemed to stretch to an eternity. But now, with BlackBerry 10 just weeks away, critics seem to be understanding that Heins is no shrinking violet. Many analysts have recently reconsidered RIM’s prospects, and decided that the worst case scenario and the most likely scenario are further apart than they first thought.

Heins was chosen by a panel of equity analysts and the readers of Cantech Letter.

Cormark analyst Richard Tse says RIM’s platform transition remains an uphill battle, but RIM’s “surprising operational progress” has given it wiggle room between BlackBerry 7 and BlackBerry 10 that many critics didn’t think the company could spare.

Byron Capital’s Tom Astle had similar praise: “He still has a massive job in front of him, but already the big ship is starting to right itself under his navigation.”

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