Welcome to the new People on the Move!
Please excuse the clutter, we're under new management...
Welcome to People on the Move, a weekly rundown of personnel changes in the esports/gaming industry. I put out 13 issues for AFK Gaming over the last several months, but now we are entering a new phase of the newsletter without our friends (we will miss working with them) and making it free to everyone. This newsletter will remain free for as long as I decide to continue writing it, but from time to time you may see some sponsored content or an ad—we’re still working on those details...
Finally, thank you for reading–without you there’s no point to all of this hard work.
With that out of the way, let’s get into this week’s biggest moves in esports and gaming! - James Fudge.
Movers & Shakers
Artem Bykov has been appointed to the role of League of Legends European Championship (LEC) commissioner at Riot Games. Prior to taking on this role, Bykov worked for ESL Gaming as its general manager of game management for close to two years. His past work experience includes Natus Vincere, Blizzard Entertainment, Epic Esports Events, and Freaks 4U Gaming, among others.
Damoun Shabestari joins Raven Software as a lead game designer where he will work on the Call of Duty franchise at the Wisconsin-based Activision Blizzard studio. Shabestari left First Contact Entertainment where he worked on multiple VR-based titles. Prior to that, he worked at Starbreeze Entertainment, THQ, and Treyarch, where he spent more than nine years working on Black Ops, Black Ops 2, Black Ops 3, and Call of Duty: World at War.
Robin Johansson was one of several employees laid off at Dignitas this week. The now former VP of esports & strategy at Dignitas spent nearly two years in leading esports efforts, including a stint as the general manager and head coach of the organization’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team.
The People’s Republic of China’s General Administration of Sport has promoted Gao Zhidan from vice director to director—he'll be replacing current director Gou Zhongwen. This is a questionable promotion due to the fact that Zhidan has not been the best proponent of esports in the country during his tenure as vice director; he joined the agency in 2016.
Genesis Prado has left his role as lead 3D environmental artist at PlayStation after only seven months to join Lightspeed as a principal 3D environment artist. Prado is a seasoned veteran who worked on Diablo 4 while at Blizzard and the Uncharted series while at Naughty Dog.
The Esports Trade Association mourns the sudden passing of member Harry Jackson III, who served on the group's regulations committee. Jackson was also a partner of the gaming department and co-chair of the American Indian Law Practice Group at law firm Fox Rothschild LLP. We offer our sincerest condolences to Jackson's friends and family for their loss.
People on the Move
Here is this week’s BIG list of promotions, hires, and departures in the gaming/esports industry:
Esports:
Allan Phang has resigned from his role as chief marketing officer of esports organization Galaxy Racer and is open for new opportunities.
Amanda Rubin has joined Enthusiast Gaming as its new SVP, global head of sales & marketing.
David Bluver is promoted to the new role of VP of East Coast sales at Enthusiast Gaming.
Chantal-Denise Ortega has joined Galaxy Racer as its new brand partnerships manager for North America.
Frank Uddo has left ESL Gaming to join Apple in the new role of new business development for Apple Sports Video.
George Nowack was laid off from his role as a junior graphic designer at 100 Thieves this week.
Edward Gregory has been promoted to the role of senior marketing manager in charge of partnerships, apparel, and esports at Fnatic.
Nicole Du Cane Spencer leaves Wisdom Gaming to join Misfits Gaming Group as its new VP of partnerships.
Lawson Lee joins Singapore-based esports organization Team Flash as its new director of digital and partnerships.
Danielle Fox joins Counter Logic Gaming as senior manager of digital content.
Riley Fowler has left the LA Guerrillas to join OpTic Texas as a producer.
Carl Levi joins Minnesota-based esports production company Wisdom Gaming as the new director of partnerships.
Claus-Peter Schnell joins SPORTFIVE as its new senior manager for esports rightsholder management.
Adam Mundie will leave EXCEL Esports to join CSM Sport & Entertainment as its new senior account director for esports & gaming later this month.
Jan-Hendrik Heuschke leaves Freaks 4U Gaming after more than 11 years at the Berlin-based gaming and esports marketing agency.
Sebastian Killinger exits Freaks 4U Gaming to join influencer marketing agency HitchOn as its new senior account manager.
Marcus "Esports" Howard joins Vessel Creative Solutions (part time) as its chief growth officer.
Zuza Kumorek has been promoted to head of brand design at GRID Esports.
Gaming:
Olia Fadeeva has been promoted to EMEA product lead for League of Legends: Wild Rift at Riot Games.
Parkes Ousley, who was laid off at Upcomer earlier this year, has joined Riot Games.
Cyrus Wesson gets an upgrade from contractor to full-time in his role as senior manager of social media at Twitch.
Viktorija Ardamatskaja joins Blizzard as a senior animator to work on an unannounced survival game—she worked at Creative Assembly in a similar role for more than four years.
Jeremy Scarbro has made the jump to Activision Blizzard to tackle the role of manager of security devops–he previously worked at Blizzard.
Arin Goldsmith joins Blizzard as its new talent marketing specialist.
Adam Klein joins Activision Blizzard as senior data analyst on the Call of Duty live ops analytics team.
Michelle Condon has been promoted to director of operations (mobile) at Activision Blizzard.
Colin Cashin has exited Blizzard to join Activision Blizzard sister company King as its new VP of global infrastructure.
Sam Thomas joins Activision Blizzard as director of learning and development.
Manabu Miyagawa exits PlayStation after more than 15 years at the console maker–his most recent role was director of software business.
Rick Dressler takes on the role of global media manager of action/adventure at Electronic Arts.
Stephane Jankowski has been promoted to executive producer on the long-running RTS game series ANNO at Ubisoft.
Sabrina Shue joins Melbourne-based game developer PlaySide Studios as its new product marketing manager.
James Turnage-Lannan has been promoted to the role of senior program manager, inclusive economic opportunity at game engine technology company Unity.
Nathan Tiras, who spent more than eight years in various QA roles at Riot Games, has been promoted to the role of director of QA at L.A.-based developer Singularity 6.
Nik Gianozakos has left Blizzard to join mobile game developer Scopely as its new brand manager.
Charlotte Bavister has been promoted to the role of senior partnerships & marketing manager for first party games at game publisher 505 Games.
Nick Mariano is promoted to senior VP of business development at Las Vegas-based gaming lifestyle media platform Bent Pixels.
Cameron Trentalange exits Crunchyroll to take on the role of video producer at The Pokémon Company International.
Other:
Mark "Garvey" Candella has left Twitch after eight and a half years to join Manilla-based esports educational platform AcadArena as its new chief strategy officer.
Stephen Mackin joins London-based sports marketing agency Two Circles as its new lead consultant for gaming, esports, and Web3.
Mac Dycer leaves his role as commercial manager of Esports Insider to join electric motor manufacturer Cobalt.
Kaiden Hudson is promoted to the role of director of esports and game studies at Oklahoma-based charter school Epic Charter Schools.
Will Sosinski, who currently serves as chief operations officer at Esports Labs, has co-founded a new company called Totally Gaming Academy.
Christopher Bilski has been appointed to the role of director of esports at Michigan State University.
David Yarnton is appointed to the role of chief of business development at digital games marketplace Kinguin.
Punret Beotra exits India-based esports fantasy platform FanClash after only nine months to join venture capital firm BEENEXT.
Michael Figueiredo takes on an additional (part-time) role as community manager for Esports Scotland.
Nathaniel Thompson has stepped down from his role as executive director at scholastic esports league the Indiana Esports Network to make room for new leadership.
Dylan Samuels has been promoted to marketing manager at Dallas-based creative marketing agency AOE.
British Esports names olympic swimmer and British Olympic Association member Alice Dearing to its advisory board.
Christopher G. Poirier joins Generation Esports as a sales development representative (contract).
In Other News
Money: Dallas investors John Goff and Jerry Jones have high hopes for esports…
Friendship: Employees will likely leave your company after their work friends exit.
Layoffs: Around 23% of Robinhood’s workforce let go.
Failure: Big Tech promised more diversity two years after George Floyd’s murder, but haven’t delivered.
Frozen: Fnatic’s struggle to get players to the Dota 2 Major in Arlington.
Want to highlight your latest hire? Looking to promote a new job opening? Drop me a line at jamesbfudge@gmail.com with the subject line “People on the Move.”
This list might be a little too long. I am thinking about making this a twice weekly affair. Let me know what you think in the comments!