Surprisingly enough, the week after Christmas has not been as quiet as one might expect. Keeping pace (and then some) with last week, a total of ten different social companies showed new activity according to data from LinkedIn. Of these changes, however, a fair portion consisted of merely internal shifts. In fact, even the major hires this week are, technically, not hires. as the former CEO of the acquired NewToy Inc. changes roles to vice president and general manager at Zynga, and Playdom vice president of mobile and client platforms changes tags and roles to vice president of technology under the Disney Interactive Media Group.
As always, if your company is hiring new people or making a notable promotion, please let us know. Email editor (at) insidesocialgames (dot) com, and we’ll get it into this or next week’s post.
And for those searching for new jobs, be sure to check out our Inside Network Job Board.
Here’s this week’s full list:
- Nick Esquerra — A former web developer for Gaia Interactive, Esquerra joins Digital Chocolate as a software engineer.
- Timur Haussila — In an internal change, Haussila moves from associate product manager of social games at Digital Chocolate to a full product manager of social games.
- Collin Foss — A graduate of international business at Minnesota State University, Foss is now a community manager for Digital Chocolate.
- Allen Kwok — The usually quiet Happy Elements gets a new R&D engineer with Kwok. Prior to this, Kwok was a software engineer at Playfish.
- Keith Harris — Previously a account and project manager for Castfire, Harris is now a QA lead at Kabam.
- Joshua Woodruff — Woodruff joins Kabam as their new senior director of technology operations. Before this, Woodruff was a director of network operations at CafePress.com.
- Dejan Prokic — European company Nordeus sends us two new hires this week with the first being their new software engineer Prokic. Before joining Nordeus, Prokic filled the same role at Wood Master.
- Milosave Brajkovic — Another noted hire comes in the form of former collegiate, Brajkovic, who joins Nordeus as a software development engineer.
- Steve Makofsky – Noted prior, Steve Makofsky held the role of vice president of mobile and client platforms under the Playdom tag. Now, he changes to the Disney Interactive Media Group tag and becomes vice president of technology.
- Shannon Broderick — In a similar move, Broderick goes from a business development associate under Playdom, to to a manager of business development under Disney Interactive Media Group.
- Jeannine Schafer — Schafer joins Playdom as a senior artist. Prior to this, she was a concept artist for Electric Bat Interactive.
- Deborah Fike — Formerly a game writer for InstantAction, Deborah Fike joins Playdom as a producer.
- Jacob Fike — Jacob Fike also joins Playdom, but as a PHP developer. He was previously a senior web developer for InstantAction.
- Gabe Brown — Now an engineering manager for Playdom, Brown was previously a software designer engineer II for Microsoft.
- Joseph Lee — Only one internal change for Playfish this week, as Lee becomes a senior QA test lead under the Playfish tag. Prior to this, he was a QA project lead under the Electronic Arts name.
- Jeramie Risinger — Previously a senior web developer for DomainTools, Risinger is now a web developer II for PopCap.
- Kim Amsberry — Amsberry joins PopCap as a senior technical program manager. Prior to this, she was a program manager for Microsoft.
- Don Brady — Formerly a supervisor for server systems R&D at Expeditors International, Brady is now a manager of IT operations at PopCap.
- Paloma Farmer — Slide makes a single addition this week as Farmer joins the team as a designer temp. Before this, Farmer was a floor sales representative at Eddie Bauer.
- Francesco Tosato — A single internal shift at wooga this week as Tosato moves from international online marketing intern to product manager.
- Jack Gibbons — Now a manager for NetCom at Zynga, Gibbons was previously an IT manger for Oracle.
- Duncan Barton — Barton joins Zynga as a new 2D/3D artist. Prior to this, Barton was a creative developer for American Greetings.
- Paul Bettner — As noted already, Paul Bettner is now vice president and general manager at Zynga. Part of the NewToy acquisition, he was formerly founder, CEO, and creative director.
- Kriss Chow — Previously a senior accountant for Gilead Sciences, Chow now fills the same role for Zynga.
- Sarah Thomas — Thomas is now “Girl Friday” for Zynga external services. Before joining Zynga, she was an executive assistant for production operations at LucasArts.
- Mahdad Ansari — Zynga gains a new senior producer with Ansari who was previously part of the content model team at L-3 Communications.
- Andrew Kemp — A former writer and game designer for Icarus Studios, Kemp is now a copywriter for Zynga.
- Tobias Brousil — Now a software engineer for Zynga, Brousil was previously an software engineer II for Electronic Arts.
- Gary Ward — In an internal changes, Ward changes roles at Zynga from release manager to localization project manager.
- Grant Yang — Another addition due to the NewToy acquisition as Yang becomes the manager of operations for Zynga with Friends. Previously, he was counsel on IP and vice president of strategy at NewToy.
- Erik Nilsson — A former associate producer of system design at Funcom, Nilsson is now a system designer for Zynga.
- Ragnar Gudmundsson — Gudmundsoon is a former senior manager of business intelligence for eBay. Now, he joins Zynga as a senior data analyst.
- Lisa Kiyokane — Once a freelance illustrator for Disney Publishing Worldwide, Kiyokana is now a 2D artist for Zynga.
- Brenna Willis — Another internal shift as Willis changes roles at Zynga from contract UI designer to UI design and outsourcing art director.
- Doug Daniels — Daniels joins Zynga as a senior software engineer. Previously, he was lead software engineer at Electric Bat Interactive.
- Kevin Holme — Yet another noted change from the NewToy acquisition as the former lead game designer, Holme, becomes a senior game designer under Zynga.
Source: Inside Social Games
Thursday, December 30, 2010