Investor pushes for leadership change at RIM

A person poses the new Blackberry Torch 9860 at a release party to promote the BlackBerry OS 7 devices in Toronto August 3, 2011.

(Reuters) - An investor at Research In Motion has asked two directors at the struggling Canadian smartphone maker to push for a change in the company's governance.

Activist shareholder Jaguar Financial, which has been asking the BlackBerry maker to sell itself in whole or parts, said it wants the roles of the company's chairman and chief executive to be separated.

The discontent centers on RIM's poor performance in the face of stiff competition from Apple Inc's iPhone and iPad, and devices powered by Google's Android system.

Jaguar asked Barbara Stymiest and Roger Martin, both directors at RIM, to initiate the changes in governance.

"They should step up and take the lead in making dramatic governance change or else resign from the board if they are unable or unwilling to initiate appropriate governance changes," it said in a statement.

Shares of RIM closed at C$15.69 on Wednesday at the Toronto Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Maneesha Tiwari in Bangalore; Editing by Joyjeet Das)