Adam Belsher

Chief Executive Officer Magnet Forensics

Last Reviewed: September 26, 2026

Executive Summary

Adam Belsher is Chief Executive Officer of Magnet Forensics, the digital investigations software company he launched with former police officer Jad Saliba. Magnet’s software is used by public safety agencies and enterprises to recover and analyse digital evidence. Belsher has run the company from its start-up years through a 2021 listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange and a 2023 take-private by Thoma Bravo, valued at about C$1.8 billion. After that deal, Thoma Bravo merged Magnet with iPhone-extraction specialist Grayshift under the Magnet Forensics name. Before Magnet, he was a Research In Motion executive and led the BlackBerry maker’s Verizon business unit.

Career Highlights

• Chief Executive Officer of Magnet Forensics, based in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario.
• Launched Magnet Forensics with founder Jad Saliba. The company dates its start to 2011.
• Took Magnet public on the Toronto Stock Exchange in May 2021.
• Led the company through its sale to Thoma Bravo, announced in January 2023 at C$44.25 a share and about C$1.8 billion fully diluted, and closed on 6 April 2023.
• Stayed on as CEO after Magnet and Grayshift were combined in 2023.
• At Research In Motion, was Vice President of the Verizon business unit, which his biography says grew revenue from $400M to more than $2B in four years.

Professional Journey

Belsher studied commerce at Carleton University in Ottawa, earning an Honours Bachelor of Commerce, and took a Diploma in Business & Management Studies at the University of Bradford in England.

His corporate career was at Research In Motion, the Waterloo company behind the BlackBerry. Infosecurity Magazine’s bio says he spent 13 years in leadership roles there. His most senior role was Vice President of the Verizon business unit, which managed RIM’s relationship with its largest US carrier partner. His biography says revenue from that relationship grew from $400 million to more than $2 billion in four years. Magnet describes him as arriving “fresh off an accomplished role as a leading executive at Research In Motion, helping bring the BlackBerry to millions of users around the world”.

Magnet Forensics started with Jad Saliba. As a police officer in a digital forensics unit, Saliba found that the available tools could not keep up with the evidence on modern devices, and he wrote his own. According to the company, he left policing in 2011 to launch Magnet Forensics with Belsher. Saliba brought the technology and Belsher the commercial side. Magnet’s software, which extracts, analyses and reports on evidence from computers, phones and cloud services, was adopted by police forces, national agencies and corporate investigators.

In May 2021 Magnet listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Less than two years later, on 20 January 2023, Thoma Bravo agreed to acquire it for C$44.25 per subordinate voting share, about C$1.8 billion on a fully diluted basis, with certain insiders rolling part of their holdings into the new company. The deal closed on 6 April 2023. Belsher thanked shareholders “for joining our mission, to seek justice and protect the innocent”. Thoma Bravo already owned Grayshift, maker of the GrayKey device-extraction tool, and combined the two companies under the Magnet Forensics name. The founders of both businesses took leadership roles in the combined company.

Belsher remains CEO of the combined, privately held company. Its executive team includes President John Curry and co-founder and board member Jad Saliba, and it has offices in Waterloo and Ottawa, Atlanta, Herndon in Virginia, and Singapore.

Education

Carleton University

Honours Bachelor of Commerce

University of Bradford

Diploma, Business & Management Studies