Thorsten Heins was the CEO and President of the BlackBerry corporation, previously Research In Motion. Heins also sat on the board of directors. He succeeded co-CEOs and founders Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis after they stepped down in January 2012. Thorsten Heins joined Research In Motion in 2007, and occupied roles as the Senior VP of the Handheld Business Unit, and various Chief Operating Officer positions prior to becoming CEO. Before joining BlackBerry, Heins was the CTO at Siemens.

He was born in Gifhorn, Germany on December 29, 1957, and studied science and physics at the University of Hanover. When not running BlackBerry, Heins likes riding motorcycles. And he's tall. Like really, really tall.

On November 4th, 2013 as BlackBerry called an end to their strategic review, Thorsten Heins announced he would be stepping down as CEO and CEO John S. Chen would take his place.