Character Select
I have had the opportunity to work with many talented people on amazing programs, and am excited for many more to come. Please Reach Out if you’d like to work on something together and I’d be happy to connect.
How Did College Lan Parties become a career?
“That’s not a thing”: my response when someone suggested I pursue a career in esports in 2009. I was in college studying bioengineering and really playing a lot of Dota/League of Legends with my roommates when I started creating content hosting online tournaments. Somehow, that turned into a REAL opportunity running some of the largest events in the world at IGN, developing gaming communities at Blizzard Entertainment, and leading industry-defining partnerships at Twitch.
I’m fortunate that it is indeed a thing. I’ve worked with amazing people along the way supporting communities that I’m passionate about. As a business development leader in video games and strategic media partnerships, I’ve been able to build large programs including game launches, content licensing deals, sales partnerships, and work with amazing companies getting into gaming. I’m excited for what I’ll be able to work on next.
IGN
IPL 5 and the Rise of Esports
Esports competitions had been running since the 90s with major broadcasts in Korea turning the best players into celebrities. But when I joined IGN, it was at an inflection point when the industry was growing from grass-roots to large-scale productions with major sponsors, high prize pools, and millions of fans online. IPL 5 is an event many viewed for years as the pinnacle of the era, and the content we produced generated 45M+ hours watched, and 90M+ total views. And most of the time we were producing content out of closets with laptops on top of boxes!
Blizzard Entertainment
Gaming Communities and Product Development
Blizzard is one of the largest, most beloved pc gaming companies, and one of the big 3 esports developers (along with Riot Games and Valve). As a product lead, program manager I worked with a great team of designers, engineers to launch community websites, mobile apps, and several social products. We worked closely with the production teams developing sites hosting player data, tournament brackets, and video players bringing esports to the next level of professionalism. New products we launched like “Fireside Gatherings” enabled in-person community meetups to support the local gaming ecosystem.
Twitch.tv
ESL / Twitch Content Partnership
ESL is the largest independent esports broadcaster with major events almost every week of the year across a variety of games. We partnered with the goal of changing the streaming model to bring more revenue into the ecosystem to support events. Together with great content and a passionate community, we were able to build a sports licensing model similar to traditional sports with OMPs purchasing advertising to support the broadcasts. I was able to work with a wide array of major content producers building great events, and I’m particularly proud of the work pushing to support those communities.
Streamerbowl Ft. Fortnite
One of the challenges we regularly saw with esports content was that the largest moments would have millions of viewers tune in, only to disappear when the event is over. The goal of Twitch Rivals was to create great events that creators can participate in and broadcast their own perspective, thus letting them grow their audience after the tournament is over. Collaborating with the Rivals team and Epic, who was extremely supportive of creator economies and how they grow gaming communities, we partnered on a massive $1M charity tournament with the NFL players association. NFL stars like Austin Ekeler, Mike Evans would play with major gamers like Tfue, xQc to create one amazing event.
