A little over a year since stepping down as co-CEO of Research in Motion, Mike Lazaridis announced following the company’s first quarter earnings report that he plans to leave his position as vice chairman and director of the board on May 1st. Lazaridis founded BlackBerry (BBRY) in 1984 with Jim Balsillie and served as its co-chief executive until last year. Balsillie resigned from BlackBerry in March of 2012 and recently announced that he had sold all of his shares in the struggling company. Lazaridis said that leaving the company will give him more time to focus on his new Quantum Valley Investments venture.

BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins said, “Mike revolutionized the mobile communications industry and is widely recognized as one of Canada’s greatest innovators. I deeply respect his desire to devote his full-time efforts to his new venture.”