BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) former executive Alec Saunders has now has joined Microsoft as informed by him this Monday. During his stint at BlackBerry, most of Saunders time was spent in leading the developer relations efforts to give top apps to the BlackBerry 10 platform. Sauders exited BlackBerry late last year.
Why Saunders joined Microsoft?
Explaining his reasons to pick a job at Microsoft, Saunders told that in the last few months he has been analyzing options to get directly involved with the start-up world. But, he had two limitations that though he wanted to “engage with start-ups” he does not want to start one of his own, and the other limitation was “I want to stay local.”
Former BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) said in a blog post, “So it was natural that one of the first companies I reached out to after leaving BlackBerry would be Microsoft. As of last Monday, I’ve rejoined Microsoft in the role of Principal Technical Evangelist. My beat is Canada – not just Kitchener-Waterloo.” He will continue working in Waterloo for Microsoft Ventures.
BlackBerry experience useful
Announcing his new role, Saunders said that he will like to get directly involved in the startup world as much as possible. Saunders said that he has acquired intensive knowledge over the years and would want to apply those to some of the existing start-up rather than start one of his own.
“At BlackBerry, I witnessed first hand the power of start-ups to effect transformation,” Saunders said in a blog post.
Saunders informed that he is a part of the global Microsoft Ventures team, which run programs like Microsoft Ventures Accelerators and other similar programs helping start-ups and other companies in their early stages to achieve their full potential.
Previously, also, Saunders has worked for Microsoft. In 1999 and 200 he served as a marketing director for Redmond’s home networking efforts at Microsoft. At Microsoft Ventures, the venture capital arm of Microsoft, Saunders’ designation will be that of the “Principal Technical Evangelist.” At Microsoft, former BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) executive will be reporting to Steven Guggenheimer, who is the corporate vice president for developer experience.
Image credit: www.saunderslog.com
