Douglas Fregin

Douglas E. Fregin is a Canadian businessman who co-founded BlackBerry Limited (then called Research In Motion) in 1985 with Mike Lazaridis. Fregin acted as vice-president of operations until his retirement in 2007.[1]

Douglas Fregin
Alma materUniversity of Windsor (BS)

Life

Fregin had been friends with Mike Lazaridis since grade five.[2] Fregin studied electrical engineering at the University of Windsor.[3] After university, they developed a video signalling device. They founded Research in Motion to market it[4] in 1984. In February 1985, they received a $15 thousand Ontario New Ventures loan.[2]

In 1994, Fregin, Eastman Kodak, and the National Film Board of Canada won a Technology and Engineering Emmy Award for 'Development of a Keycode Reader'.[5]

When RIM went public in 1997, Fregin owned 5% of shares valued at $23.6 million.[4]

In 2000, Fregin donated $10 million to help found Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.[4]

In 2005, he owned 2.7% of RIM, worth $396 million.[4]

In May 2007, Fregin retired from his position as vice-president of operations.[6] He owned 2% of RIM stock, valued at $1.3 billion.[7]

In March 2013, Fregin and Lazaridis founded Quantum Valley Investments, a venture fund.[6]

That same year, they filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission about their consideration of an acquisition of BlackBerry in response to "the issuer’s recent announcement that its board of directors has formed a special committee to explore strategic alternatives to enhance value and increase scale".[6] They hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Centerview Partners LLC to review their options.[2][8]

He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Engineering by the University of Waterloo on June 19, 2022 for his achievements.[9]

See also

Notes
  1. Kumparak, Greg (2013). "BlackBerry Co-Founders Mike Lazaridis And Douglas Fregin Consider Buying Back The Company". Techcrunch. AOL Inc. (published 10 October 2013).
  2. "BlackBerry Ltd co-founders Lazaridis, Fregin consider takeover bid". financialpost. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
  3. "Board Of Directors". Quantum Valley Ideas Lab. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
  4. Gagné, Claire (December 2, 2005). "Douglas Fregin — The Other RIM Guy". Canadian Business.
  5. Partner, Managing. "Doug Fregin | Quantum Valley Investments | Quantum Valley | Management Team". Retrieved 2023-05-14.
  6. Rushe, Dominic (2013-10-10). "Blackberry co-founders considering bid for troubled company". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
  7. Gray, John (September 10, 2007). "RIM". Canadian Business.
  8. "Schedule 13D". www.sec.gov. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
  9. "University of Waterloo 2022 Convocation". YouTube. 2022.
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