BlackBerry names ex-Sybase executive as chief operating officer

Marty Beard of Sybase 365 speaks during the "Mobile: Where's The Money Going?" panel at the Fortune Tech Brainstorm 2009 in Pasadena, California July 23, 2009. Beard has been named chief operating officer of BlackBerry Limited. REUTERS/Fred Prouser

TORONTO (Reuters) - BlackBerry Limited named Marty Beard as its chief operating officer on Monday, filling a position that had been vacant since November following a management reshuffle. Beard was most recently chief executive officer of LiveOps Inc, a provider of cloud applications for customer service. Prior to that he was an executive of Sybase, an enterprise software maker that was formerly run by current BlackBerry CEO John Chen. BlackBerry said Beard in his new role would be responsible for marketing, application development, quality and customer care, among other things. Former BlackBerry COO Kristian Tear left the company late last year, shortly after Chen took the reins. (Reporting by Euan Rocha; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)