Professional Summary
Veteran studio founder and operator with 20+ years building and scaling game studios from ground zero across four continents. Founded five studios from zero to 150+ staff with two successful acquisitions. Deep expertise in studio operations, international team building, and complete P&L ownership. Track record includes pioneering work establishing DirectX at Microsoft with 200+ publishers, DARPA program management, and securing major IP partnerships with Disney, LucasArts, Marvel, and Hasbro.
Career Highlights
Studio Founding
Built 5 studios from 0 to 150+ employees across North America, Europe, and Asia with complete operational oversight
Platform Pioneer
Original DirectX team at Microsoft, establishing Windows gaming foundation and relationships with 200+ publishers worldwide
Major IP Partnerships
Secured licensing agreements with Disney, Marvel, LucasArts, and Hasbro for AAA game development
International Operations
Led studio operations across Germany, Israel, China, and South Korea with government relations expertise
Successful Exits
Led M&A efforts resulting in studio acquisitions by Vivendi/Blizzard and Gazillion Entertainment
Government Experience
DARPA Program Manager and U.S. Air Force veteran with Top Secret/SCI clearance and Russian linguistics expertise
Professional Experience
Co-founded mobile gaming studio focusing on casual genres. Built team in Haifa, Israel from ground up. Managed all P&L planning, business development, and strategic partnerships.
- Established Unity production pipelines including art outsourcing workflows and engineering tools
- Recruited and led cross-functional teams across design, engineering, art, QA, and production
- Managed external vendors and international co-development partners
- Created rapid prototyping workflows to validate game concepts before full production
Led mobile casual game studio development within major European publisher. Developed strategic plans presented to C-suite covering budget, staffing, product design, and go-to-market strategies.
- Built mobile game studio from 0 to 30+ staff in under six months
- Led M&A team scouting German game studios, completing successful studio acquisition
- Coordinated with international co-development partners across Germany and Asia
Founded live-services game studio working with Disney/LucasArts on original IP and Star Wars IP-based AAA cross-platform games.
- Built studio from 0 to 30+ employees with complete operational infrastructure
- Secured major IP licensing agreements with Disney/LucasArts
- Managed external vendors and outsourcing relationships for art, engineering, and QA
Founded studio and led 100-person team developing and shipping the first AAA Marvel-licensed MMORPG worldwide in under 24 months.
- Built complete studio infrastructure from ground up including hiring, culture, and workflows
- Responsible for all studio operations, product strategy, and P&Ls
- Led successful M&A process resulting in studio acquisition by Gazillion Entertainment
- Created user testing lab and coordinated with research teams for player validation
Founded and managed studios in Seattle and Shanghai, China. Led development of seven simultaneous SKUs for PC and Xbox 360, including award-winning titles.
- Built studios from 0 to 150+ staff globally across Seattle and Shanghai
- Shipped award-winning, multi-million unit selling titles including Carcassonne for Xbox
- Complete P&L ownership for casual games portfolio spanning multiple platforms
- Managed portfolio planning and resource allocation for concurrent projects
Led DARWARS Training Superiority program applying commercial game technology for Department of Defense training and education.
- Led BBN and multiple contractors as Program Manager delivering training simulation in under 12 months
- Integrated training programs across DoD service branches, Secret Service, DHS, FBI, and CIA
- Delivered multi-agency training simulator for Department of Homeland Security
Original DirectX team member (versions 1-6) establishing Windows gaming platform. Led worldwide developer relations for Microsoft Windows platform.
- Established relationships with 200+ publishers including EA, Disney, LucasArts, Blizzard, and Activision
- Product Manager for Microsoft Game Zone (Zone.com), created partner portfolio strategy for multiplayer gaming
- Led Windows Game Sampler development shipping 10+ million units with PC OEM partners
- Established foundation for Windows real-time gaming and Xbox platform
Active duty and reserve service. Russian linguist and intelligence analyst. Selected as Airman of the Year.
- Graduated Defense Language Institute in Russian for SIGINT and Advanced Russian for INF Treaty
- Served in Intelligence Operations as aircrew intel trainer and analyst for Close Air Support
- Held Top Secret/SCI clearance
Skills & Expertise
Studio Leadership
- Studio Founding & Scaling
- Complete P&L Ownership
- M&A Due Diligence
- International Operations
Product Development
- Unity Pipelines (since 2009)
- Live Services & F2P
- Cross-Platform Development
- Rapid Prototyping
Business Development
- IP Licensing & Partnerships
- Publisher Relations
- Government Relations
- Strategic Planning
Operations
- Outsourcing & Co-Dev
- Vendor Management
- Agile Methodology
- Team Building
Education & Credentials
Defense Language Institute - Russian Language & Advanced Russian Interpreter (INF Treaty course)
University of Washington - Russian Language and History
Certified Scrum Master
Languages: Russian, German, limited Korean and Chinese
Industry Leadership
Featured speaker for 20+ years at industry conferences including Game Developers Conference, I/ITSEC, Pocket Game Connects, and Casual Connect across USA, UK, Japan, South Korea, China, and throughout Europe. Co-founded the Serious Games Summit conference in Washington, D.C.