Mike Lazaridis

Mihalis "Mike" Lazaridis (Greek Μιχάλης Λαζαρίδης ), OC, O.Ont ( born March 14, 1961 in Istanbul, Turkey) is the founder of the company Research In Motion ( BlackBerry now ) and Chancellor of the University of Waterloo.

Education and Career

Born the son of Greeks in Turkey, Lazaridis was five when he moved in 1966 with his parents to Windsor in Canada. At the age of twelve, he won a prize that he had read each rotating about the topic physics book in his school library. In 1979 he entered the University of Waterloo, a degree in engineering with a minor in computer science. In 1984 he abandoned his studies two months before its completion because he accepted a contract from General Motors about $ 600,000 to develop an indicator system for network computer. With this money, a loan from his parents in the amount of $ 15,000 and a small contribution from the Government, he founded, Mike Barnstijn and Douglas Fregin RIM, the Canadian company that develops and manufactures the BlackBerry mobile phone.

In January 2012, he stepped down as co-CEO of RIM. This he did after a series of bad decisions, product delays, profit declines and market share losses of the company.

He is married to Ophelia Lazaridis. Together they have two children.

Volunteerism

• He founded the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics with $ 100 million and $ 10 million personal capital of its partner Jim Balsillie RIM and Doug Fregin.
• He gave his wife a total of $ 50.3 million to the University of Waterloo.

Lazaridis is the winner of Oscars for technology - an innovation that facilitates cutting of films.