Kabam - Kent Wakeford
Kabam has announced that it has hired Kent Wakeford to be Executive Vice-President of Corporate Development and General Counsel. He will lead Corporate and Business Development relationships and operations, including overseeing relationships with platform and distribution partners, acquisition opportunities, and relationships with the financial community. As General Counsel, his responsibilities will include oversight of all the company’s legal matters, including intellectual property and business relationship contracts, while providing legal counsel on a range of business issues.
“Bringing an executive as experienced and accomplished as Kent strengthens our already deep executive team,” said Kabam CEO Kevin Chou. “His track record in leading companies, building corporate partnerships, and managing complex business and legal relationships is a perfect addition for Kabam as we grow our company through acquisitions and further our relationships with platform and distributor partners.”
Wakeford has executive, corporate development and legal experience including over 12 years of leadership experience in digital and social media. He began his career as an attorney at O’Melveny & Myers representing media and entertainment companies. Wakeford represented AOL on the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) task force to publish the AAAA's industry standard terms and conditions, and currently participates in the IAB Networks & Exchanges Committee. He also spent over five years at AOL as a Vice President facilitating relationships withmore than 250 brand marketers across AOL web properties. Wakeford served as a senior executive at Clearspring Technologies, helping to grow the company to the largest social content sharing platform and then was co-founder and President of AdSafe Media. He served as an advisor for Kabam’s early development.
Double Down Interactive - Glenn Walcott
Double Down Interactive has announced that it has hired Glenn Walcott as president. He'll help lead the company and their Facebook game DoubleDown Casino.
“We are fortunate to have Glenn on board,” commented CEO and Co-founder Greg Enell. “He brings to us a demonstrated ability to drive profitable growth while developing an incredibly rewarding and fun employee culture. Our signature game, DoubleDown Casino, is experiencing massive growth and we are very privileged to have on our team such an experienced game executive with a proven track record to help guide our rapid transformation as we scale to unrivaled heights.”
Walcott previously held senior leadership positions at Loud Technologies and Blue Nile. Most recently he was CFO of Big Fish Games and lead the growth of the company from $8 million in revenue to more than $100 million, helping them raise $83 million in private financing.
“Double Down Interactive is comprised of a great team that has all the fundamentals necessary to have massive growth and success in the social gaming world,” added Walcott. ”I am excited to help lead a company where our employees thrive and customers love to play our games.”
DC Entertainment - Courtney Simmons
DC Entertainment at Warner Bros. has named Courtney Simmons Senior Vice President of Publicity. She will oversee the New York-based DC Entertainment publicity team and manage media relations and internal communications for DC Entertainment and its executives. She will be responsible for developing and leading the PR strategy for DC Comics’ portfolio of characters across all media platforms.
“Courtney is a well-respected and dynamic media relations executive with a proven track record of extraordinary accomplishment in interactive entertainment and consumer publicity," said John Rood, EVP of Sales, Marketing and Business Development. "This is an exciting time at the company as we continue to integrate the DC Comics business, brand and characters throughout Warner Bros. including feature films, video games, television and consumer products. Courtney will work in tandem with our WB colleagues in coordinating communications and publicity across the company and we are thrilled to have her join our senior management team.”
Simmons served as the head of public relations for The Six Flags Theme Park where she led strategic communications and publicity efforts for the Los Angeles-based park. She later ran media relations and government affairs for The Lego Group at the Legoland California theme park. Simmons served as a communications executive for Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) where she was part of the original PR team that announced the new DC Universe Online video game. Previously, she was VP of Communications for Disney Interactive Media Group where she oversaw corporate communications, media relations and publicity activities for the interactive entertainment division of The Walt Disney Company.
Testronic Labs - Promotions of Key Staff
Testronic Labs, a quality assurance services company for games, TV and film, has announced that it has promoted Josh Erkman to Vice President of Global Operations for Film and Television Services, Jason Gish to Vice President of Business Development for Film and Television Services, Alastair Harsant to Vice President of Operations for Games Services, and Shana Rosencrans will move up from Manager to Director of Operations for Film and Television Services. The executives will handle more responsibilities in the business lines in which they are currently engaged.
“It is an honor to announce these promotions for Jason, Josh, Alastair, and Shana, as each of them has made outstanding contributions to our success,” said Seth Hallen, CEO of Testronic Labs. “These individuals bring excellence and incredible dedication to their roles, and they are central to what makes Testronic Labs the global leader that it is. Jason, Josh, Alastair, and Shana embody foresight, talent and commitment and consistently exceed expectations. With these outstanding professionals, and the rest of our talented Testronic team, we are perfectly positioned to execute our ambitious plans for 2011.”
Gish and Erkman are focused on managing and growing the film and television business dynamically, as well as developing new client-centric services to be announced in the first quarter of this year. Harsant is focused on Testronic’s business supporting key game publishers, developers and producers around the world.
Other Movers covered during the past week:
Capcom's Ben Judd To Head DDM's New Japanese Office
Activision Co-Founder Joins GamesAnalytics
LucasArts Beefs Up Development with New Creative Director
EA Playfish Loses Two Executives
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