Kabam - Three Key New Leaders
Kabam has announced that it has added three key new leaders in business, marketing, and production. They are Ted Simon, Vice President Brand Marketing & Communications who will lead all brand marketing and brand building efforts at Kabam, Jen Silverstein as Director of Business Intelligence who will build out the company’s business intelligence operations, and Executive Producer
Heidi Perry who will lead planning and product development for a new, unannounced Kabam MMSG.
“Ted, Jen, and Heidi each bring unique business expertise that will enhance and build our leadership in building our brand, driving deep analytical rigor, and making massively multiplayer social games,” said Kabam COO Chris Carvalho. “They offer a strategic complement to the strengths of our existing team while bringing a wealth of experience perfectly suited to our business needs as we aggressively grow our business.”
Simon brings over twenty years of wide-ranging experience in strategic marketing management and developing strong consumer brands. He started his career at Leo Burnett Company where he served as a Vice President/Account Director working with Fortune 500 companies such as P&G, Kraft, and Miller Brewing. Simon then was the Head of Marketing who launched the games division of Broderbund Software (RED ORB Entertainment) and led the launch of Riven: The Sequel to Myst. He was most recently VP of Marketing in launching two consumer startups.
Silverstein worked at Adobe and at Integnology, a startup. She previously worked in analytics at Google, where she spent five years, most recently as Group Manager, Quantitative Modeling.
Perry built and led teams at high-reach consumer Internet businesses, such as Shockwave.com and Yahoo! Games, and she also contributed to and advised early freemium and payment companies like Playdom, Boku, and Twofish. She was a vice president leading product marketing for over 20 casual games at PlayFirst, including the Diner Dash franchise.
Cohort Games - Grant Alexander
Cohort Games announced recently that Grant Alexander has been named as their Marketing Manager. He'll look to bring together traditional games marketing approaches with some new and innovative ideas.
“Grant is an important addition to our team as we move towards the release of our first self-published title,” said Lol Scragg, CEO of Cohort Studios. “His marketing experience and enthusiasm for the games industry is already having a great effect within the studio as we move in a different direction following a challenging 2010.”
Alexander has over 10 years of experience in Marketing and Advertising.
“This really is an exciting time to be joining Cohort Studios,” commented Alexander. “In addition to the larger development projects, the studio has been developing a couple of high quality games that are due for release in the next few months – so be sure to keep a lookout for a ‘monster’ of a PSP/PS3 Minis game!”
Frogster Group - Andreas Weidenhaupt
Recently, Frogster Group announced that Andreas Weidenhaupt has resigned from the executive board. He will remain closely connected to Frogster and will still be available as a consultant.
“We thank Andreas kindly for his job performance of the past years, the amicable co-operation with the executive board colleagues and for his significant contribution to the success of Frogster,” comments Christoph Gerlinger, chairman of the executive board of Frogster.
Weidenhaupt was founder and managing director of the games portal Onlinewelten.com. He has been CEO and managing director of the Frogster Online Gaming GmbH since July 2008. In February 2009, Weidenhaupt was appointed to the executive board by the supervisory board of Frogster Interactive Pictures AG and since then has been responsible for product and brand development as well as for the expansion of the company’s portfolio in the position of Chief Licensing Manager.
Atlas Interactive - Lars Ketelsen
Atlas Interactive, a micropayments firm for gaming and other entertainment, this past week announced that it's expanding its management team with a new addition to Sales and Marketing. Lars Ketelsen is now the new Executive Director of Sales and Marketing for the specialist of content billing and will push forward with the development of new markets and international sales strategies.
“The markets are constantly changing. Lars Ketelsen and the empowerment of our management, can now respond to individual developments,” said Marco Priewe, CEO of ATLAS Interactive Deutschland.
Ketelsen has several years of experience in sales and direct marketing. He was with NDR Media GmbH since 2005 where he was responsible for the communication center.
Mothership - Neil Huxley
Recently, Digital Domain announced that Neil Huxley has joined as creative director. He will work across advertising, games marketing, films and all media at Mothership and Digital Domain, overseeing design execution for client projects and directing commercials and productions for screens of all sizes under the Mothership banner.
"Neil's career has spanned so many disciplines, he's like a walking oracle of connections and resources,” said Mothership President Ed Ulbrich. “He's tapped into the worlds of design, production, cinematography and photography and can pull together teams that look at projects entirely differently and make them fresh. He works with film directors on design treatments for movie pitches and with Mothership directors and CDs to design and develop core creative. As a director he brings all of that together and does amazing work."
A London native, Huxley moved to Australia in 2002 to join Digital Pictures Iloura as a designer. He later moved to yU+co, and he worked on opening title sequences for Zack Synder's Watchmenand art directed more than 600 shots for Neveldine/Taylor's Gamer. He has directed design, animation and live action for clients including Diet Coke, Pepsi, Honda, Spike TV, TNT, FOXTEL, Target, Ask.com, MTV Australia, Universal Pictures, FOX, Warner Bros., DreamWorks SKG, Sony Pictures, Lionsgate, Bravo, Ubisoft and Vivendi. Huxley recently worked on stereo 3D graphics and heads-up displays for James Cameron's Avatar and for Zack Synder's upcoming March releaseSucker Punch.
"I've had my eye on Mothership since they launched," said Huxley. "I respect the way they nurture young directors, give them exposure and arm them with the firepower of Digital Domain -- this is far and away beyond what any production house has access to! My brief time at Mothership has been amazing so far. I get to work across features and commercials with artists at the top of their game, and I have the guiding mentorship of Ed Ulbrich -- a creative leader who I really admire. When I get up in the morning I'm excited about going to work. It's a dream job."
Mind Candy - Nicola Duarte
Mind Candy has announced that it has appointed Nicola Duarte to head up its internal global PR function. She is tasked with raising the profile of Mind Candy and its lead brand Moshi Monsterson a global basis, predominantly focusing on the company's key territories - the U.K., U.S. and Australia.
“We're delighted to have Nicola on board,” commented Michael Acton Smith, CEO, Mind Candy. “She brings with her a wealth of experience in the kids entertainment and licensing space and is extremely well placed to help drive our global growth.”
Duarte managed Internal Communications for the European arm of Global TV network, Discovery Communications. She previously held the position of Director of PR for Classic Media where she oversaw UK/ROW PR for the company's extensive stable of family entertainment brands including Postman Pat, Rupert Bear, Where's Wally?, Basil Brush, Casper and She-Ra.
“It's an incredibly exciting time to have joined Mind Candy,” said Duarte. “The company is currently experiencing rapid growth and Moshi Monsters is a fun, innovative brand, achieving great things and laying the path for the future of kids entertainment – a fascinating story to tell.”
GAME - Dave Hughes
U.K. Retailer GAME has announced that it has appointed Dave Hughes as chief marketing officer. He'll be in charge of GAME's online and multi-channel marketing and report directly to CEO Ian Shepherd.
"I am delighted to welcome Dave to GAME. He brings passion, energy and a wealth of multichannel experience which will add tremendously to our business. GAME is evolving fast, and I have created the CMO role to ensure that we continue to meet the expanding needs of our customers in every sales channel," said Shepherd.
Hughes has held several other executive marketing roles outside the gaming industry, at companies like KPMG and Sainsburys. He was most recently in charge of Marks and Spencer's M&S Direct initiative.
Team17 - Martyn Brown
Martyn Brown recently announced that he has left Team17, according to Eurogamer. He mentioned no particular position he would be filling, nor whom his replacement would be.
"Ok, I can finally announce that I left Team17. I had an amazing 20-year ride and whilst it's the end of a truly enjoyable period of my life, it equally signals the start of a really exciting new one,” wrote Brown. "My sincere, heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped, in any way, shape or form over those two glorious decades. I leave Team17 in great shape, but now is time for my own adventure. See you at DICE and/or GDC."
Brown co-founded Team17 and led development there for two decades. Established early for hits on the Amiga computer, Brown helped create the Worms series, along with games like Superfrog and Alien Breed.
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