New Hires in Social Gaming: Bebo, Booyah, Crowdstar, & More

It's been a busy week of hiring for major social developers, according to data from both data from LinkedIn and a few of the companies themselves. There have even been a few major hires this past week as well including a new VP of Finance & Administration for Crowdstar, Victoria Bourne, and a new Game Design Lead for Digital Chocolate, Joshua Dallman. In addition to these, Zac Brandenberg is appointed the new CEO of Meteor Games, while Xbox Co-Creator, Kevin Bachus joins Bebo as its new Chief Product Officer. And be sure to check out our interview earlier this week with Henric Suuronen, who has just joined Wooga as a studio head after a successful stint at Digital Chocolate. Beyond these, there was the ongoing title changes within Slide due to its acquisition by Google, as well as internal changes at Playdom due to its acquisition by Disney. If your company is bringing on new people or doing a notable promotion, be sure to let us know. Email editor (at) insidesocialgames (dot) com. On the other hand, if you’re looking to make a move yourself, be sure to check out our Inside Network Job Board. Here’s this week’s list: Bebo Kevin Bachus - Bebo gains a new Chief Product Officer in the form of Kevin Bachus. Though he is a long-time executive and investor within the video game and digital media spaces, he is best known as one of the founders and creators of Microsoft's Xbox console. Bebo is looking to make itself more of a social gaming platform, we and others have heard, as part of its new focus on entertainment. Booyah Jeff Skaggs - Formerly the Director of West Coast Sales at appssavvy, Skaggs joins Booyah as their new West Coast Director of Sales. Crowdstar Victoria Bourne - Bourne joins Crowdstar as their new VP of Finance & Administration. Prior to this, she was the VP of Finance at Cellfire. Digital Chocolate Carole Riault- Riault changes positions at Digital Chocolate from a Localization Tester to one of their newest Account Managers. Joshua Dallman - Leaving Playdom after Disney acquired it, the former Studio Game Design Lead from Playdom joins Digital Chocolate as their new Game Design Lead. Miikka Luotio- Another job change at Digital Chocolate as Luotio switches from a Producer to an Associate Product Manager. Kabam Tess Chu - Previously an Engineering Manager for Linden Lab, Chu joins Kabam as their newest Sr. Engineer Analyst. Brad Bonkoski- Now a Senior Software Engineer for Kabam, Bonkoski's previous experience stems from Yahoo! where he was a Tech Lead & Engineering Manager. Christian Biermann - Formerly a Lead QA Analyst for Playdom, Biermann takes on the same role, as Lead QA Analyst, for Kabam. Meteor Games Zac Brandenberg - Announced as the new CEO of Meteor Games, Brandenberg is a digital media veteran, serving previously as the CEO of digital advertising platform Hydra. Mindjolt Luong Tam - A former Flash Developer for MySpace, Tam joins Mindjolt as their newest Developer. Playdom Noor Mohammed- One of many transitions beneath the Disney guise, Mohammed moves his Senior Artist role under Playdom to the same role under the Walt Disney Media Group. Ryan Ragona- Formerly a Senior Software Engineer under Playdom's tag, Ragona is now a Development Lead under Disney Interactive Media Group. Thi Nguyen- Nguyen joins Playdom as its newest Associate Producer. Prior to this, she was a Legal Clerk for Sega of America, Inc. Christopher Chapman- Under Playdom, Chapman held the role of Senior Web Developer. Now moving under the name of The Walt Disney Company, he fills the role of Web Developer. Andy Sponring- Filling "Assorted Roles" at Playdom, Sponring moves into an Associate Producer position under Disney Interactive Media Group. Faiz Kamarul Baharin - Previously a Story Intern form Red Giant Studios, Baharin joins Playdom as a Junior Artist. Jason Dickson - Formerly a Quality Assurance Manager for SouthPeak Interactive, Dickson is now a QA Lead for Playdom. Kara Baskett- Baskett joins Playdom as their newest Recruiter. Prior to this, she was a Strategic Staffing Specialist for Mead Johnson Nutrition. Jimmie Tyrrell- Now a Development Lead under the Disney Interactive Media Group, Tyrrell was previously filling the same job role under Playdom. Edvard Toth- Toth remains under the Playdom tag as their new Art Director. Previously, he was one of their Senior Flash Developers. Playfish Bob Weiler- Weiler joins Playfish as their newest Sever Engineer. Previously, he was a Staff Engineer for StubHub. Duncan Brown- Formerly an Art Lead at Playfish, Brown moves up within the company as their newest Art Director. Slide Ryan Ye - Part of the continuing Google transitions, Ye switches from Technical Lead under Slide to a Member of Technical Staff at Google. Yongrong (Damien) Hou - Previously an Engineering Lead at Slide, Hou also becomes a Member of Technical Staff at Google. Aris Chen - Coming under the Google tag, Chen becomes a Designer. Previously, Chen was a Graphic Designer at Slide. Zynga Sterling Reames - Zynga gains a new Animator in the form of Reames, who filled the same role at the recently acquired Conduit Labs. Julie Ray -- Ray joins Zynga as their new Stock Plan Administrator. Ray was formerly a Sr. Manager for Sybase. Mike Bailey - Previously a Senior Quality Assurance Tester at DCS, Baily is now QA Analyst 1 at Zynga. Farzam Farrokhi- Joining Zynga as their new Senior MySQL DBA, is Farrokhi who was previously a DB Engineer, Business Analyst, and BI Analyst for Five9. Nathan McGee - Formerly a Senior Producer of Social Media for CafePress.com, McGee joins Zynga as a Contracted Community Manager. Melissa Sawicki- Sawicki joins the social realm as Zynga's newest Designer. Prior to this, she was a Designer for console developer Rockstar Games. Binu Philip- Philip joins Zynga as their newest Architect. Before this, he was a Principle Engineer for Yahoo! Daniel Wiggins- Another person, Wiggins, from mainstream video games joins Zynga as part of their Corporate Development. Wiggins' experience stems from Finance at Turbine. Andy Scott- Now a Development Manager of Warstorm, Scott remains under the Zynga tag, but was previously a Senior Software Engineer. Sudhanshu Sethi- Prior to joining Zynga as a Sr. Information Security Project Manager, Sethi filled the same role over at PayPal. Erik Island- Also from PayPal comes Island, a former Senior Analyst. Now, he joins Zynga as "Data Analyst."

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New Hires in Social Gaming: Bebo, Booyah, Crowdstar, & More

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