Senior Management Appointments

RNS Number : 1298F

Gfinity PLC

15 May 2017

 

Dissemination of a Regulatory Announcement that contains inside information according to REGULATION (EU) No 596/2014 (MAR)

Gfinity plc

("Gfinity" or the "Company")

Senior Management Appointments

Experienced Talent Strengthens Gfinity Leadership Team

Gfinity plc (AIM: GFIN), a leading eSports business, announces key senior leadership appointments, as the Company strengthens its executive team to execute on its strategy of building a dynamic eSports business.

Following the recent completion of an oversubscribed placing, raising £6.25m, Gfinity has released details of the recruitment of six key personnel, each of whom bring the experience and expertise to complement the existing leadership team:

The roles, with extended or new executive responsibilities, include:

·     Bryan Healy as Chief Strategy Officer

·     Justin Mier as Chief Marketing Officer

·     Tarum ("Taz") Rose as Chief Operating Officer

·     Amanda Lawson as Global Head of Production

·     Tom Halls as Head of Strategic Development

·     Jeff Early as Head of Production Operation

The appointments cement Gfinity as a leader in international eSports tournament design and production and will strengthen the development of Gfinity's own series of eSports competitions: the Gfinity Elite Series commencing in the summer of 2017. The appointments follow on from Gfinity's strong start to 2017, which has already seen Gfinity stage events across London, Paris, New York and Mexico City, culminating in Gfinity's appointment by Microsoft's Turn 10 Studios as the Official Global Tournament Partner for Forza Racing Championship.

For more information on Gfinity's Elite Series click on the following hyperlink: www.gfinityesports.com.

Neville Upton, Chief Executive Officer, Gfinity plc, said: "I am delighted to announce the appointment of industry leading individuals, who will complement and enhance the skills of the existing leadership team and accelerate our goal of building a world leading eSports business. The fact that such a group, with strong track records in their respective fields with blue-chip brands have chosen to join Gfinity is a great endorsement both of the potential of the eSports industry and the potential of Gfinity. Having an executive team of this quality gives me great confidence in our ability to successfully build on the excellent reputation Gfinity has already developed within the exploding eSports industry."

 

Background of the Senior Management Team

Bryan Healy - Chief Strategy Officer

Bryan is an experienced sports and marketing lead, who has recently joined Gfinity from the UFC, where he served as Head of Commerce, EMEA. Bryan's remit at Gfinity is to shape the commercial, brand and content strategy of the Gfinity Elite Series, and to drive the global expansion of that series. Bryan brings with him years of experience in the sports & media industry, most relevantly his success at UFC in building a valuable commercial brand from a new sport entertainment venture and the creation of engaging, high quality content.

Justin Mier - Chief Marketing Officer

Justin has 18 years of marketing experience with blue chip technology and entertainment corporations, most recently managing the global marketing strategy of a start-up mobile social media business. His career in the games industry includes developing multi-million selling franchises in senior international marketing roles at Microsoft's Xbox HQ in Seattle, Electronic Arts in London and Ubisoft in Paris. Justin is responsible for Gfinity's consumer marketing strategy and growing the Gfinity brand.

Tarum Rose - Chief Operating Officer

Tarum has over 10 years' experience in senior management roles in digital businesses. Tarum led the global operations and service delivery at a leading consumer electronics e-tailer, delivering the operation that supported business to consumers' transactions worldwide, operating in over 31 languages. Most recently Tarum was the director in charge of operations and customer experience at Brandpath Ltd, a turn-key provider of digital ecommerce solutions.

Tarum joins Gfinity as Chief Operating Officer. This frees Jonathan Hall to focus on his CFO role, in particular, driving the financial initiatives that will facilitate Gfinity's growth in the next two to three years.

Amanda Lawson - Global Head of Production

Amanda joins Gfinity with the remit to drive the quantity and quality of Gfinity's content production to a level not seen before in professional eSports.  Prior to joining Gfinity, Amanda was the UFC's Director of Production across EMEA where she led all content initiatives and built a world-class talent and production team to deliver every live UFC event across the region.  Prior to landing that role, Amanda was Head of Production Operations for ITV Sport where she was responsible for overseeing the production of all the channel's sports output, including coverage of UEFA Champions League, FA Cup, England football internationals, French Open tennis, IPL, boxing and motorsport.

Tom Halls - Head of Strategic Development

Tom has over 10 years' experience in the digital space, working for leading consumer brands such as EA, Coca-Cola and HEAD as well as major sports leagues and their governing bodies, including Formula E, where he led the development of their eSports programme. He brings a broad experience to Gfinity, having worked for publishers, sports teams and non-endemic brands in the space. Tom will be responsible for growing the Gfinity brand through franchise development and taking the Gfinity Elite Series franchise brand to international markets.

Jeff Early - Head of Product Operation

Jeff is a highly experienced TV operations producer with over 30 years' experience in the broadcast industry, specialising in live broadcasts, particularly around major live sporting events. Jeff joins Gfinity from Input Media, where he has worked on a wide range of international sporting events, including UFC, the FIFA World Cup, Six Nations Championship, French and Australian Open tennis championships. Prior to Input Media, he also worked on the Winter Olympic Games, World Heavyweight Boxing championships, Super Bowl and the Superbike World Championship. Jeff will work alongside the existing team and report into Global Head of Production, Amanda Lawson.  
 

Enquiries:

Gfinity plc	www.gfinityplc.com
Neville Upton, Chief Executive Officer	Via Walbrook PR
Allenby Capital Limited - AIM Nominated Adviser and Broker	Tel. [phone]
Jeremy Porter / John Depasquale / James Thomas
Walbrook PR (Media & Investor Relations)	Tel: [phone]
Paul Cornelius / Sam Allen	or [e-mail]

About Gfinity

Founded in 2012, Gfinity has quickly established itself as one of the world's leading eSports business.  The London-based company enjoys strong relationships with game publishers, players and the wider eSports community and has built a reputation for delivering top quality eSport competitions, both on-line and off-line, and producing industry leading eSports broadcasts.

Gfinity has over 700,000 registered users eligible to compete in its online eSport competitions. Gfinity stages world leading off-line events in which the world's top eSport players travel to the Gfinity Arena in London to take part in competitions broadcast on-line to millions of viewers worldwide.  Gfinity stages live eSports events featuring top video gaming titles, across PCs, consoles and mobile devices.

Gfinity monetises the strong position that it has created through a combination of sponsorship, advertising, broadcast income relating to Gfinity's own events and through fees received for creating and delivering bespoke events for sponsors and game publishers seeking to engage with the eSports community.

 

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