Jim Balsillie

Retired Chairman and Co-CEO of Research In Motion (BlackBerry)

He is the retired Chairman and co-CEO of Research In Motion (BlackBerry), a technology company he scaled from an idea to $20 billion in sales globally. Mr. Balsillie’s private investment office includes global and domestic technology investments and was part of the consortium that recently purchased the Canadian space technology leader MDA.

He is the co-founder of the Institute for New Economic Thinking in New York, the Council of Canadian Innovators based in Toronto, and CIO Strategy Council, as well as founder of the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo, and the Centre for Digital Rights. He currently chairs the boards of CCI, CIGI, and co-Chairs CIOSC. He is also the founder of the Balsillie School of International Affairs and the Arctic Research Foundation; a member of the Board of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Advisory Board of the Stockholm Resilience Centre; an Honorary Captain (Navy) of the Royal Canadian Navy and an Advisor to Canada School of Public Service.

Mr. Balsillie was the only Canadian ever appointed to US Business Council and was the private sector representative on the UN Secretary General’s High Panel for Sustainability. His awards include: several honorary degrees, Mobile World Congress Lifetime Achievement Award, India’s Priyadarshni Academy Global Award, Canadian Business Hall of Fame, Time Magazine’s World’s 100 Most Influential People and three times Barron’s list of "World’s Top CEOs.”