Mobile Relocations: All the latest appointments and job changes from across the industry

• Knowing who is going where and doing what is the key to understanding the industry and its future direction
• Who does what, for whom and where… Here’s our latest overview of the latest moves

Who, where and why… The mobile industry is huge and there are many things to keep track of. Whether it’s new board members, executives or key team members moving on, jumping ship or simply gaining an advantage. Knowing who’s going where and doing what is key to understanding the industry and where to look next.

This is where our employee breakdown comes into play. Who, what, for whom and where… Here’s our latest look at the latest moves. Starting with…

Homa names Scopely veteran Dan Adair as vice president and general manager of hybridcasual

Adair’s new role is as vice president and general manager of Hybridcasual, which comes with the mandate of ensuring that each of Homa’s Hybridcasual titles has a “transformational impact.”

The hire comes as Homa seeks to expand and strengthen its hybridcasual division and follows the appointment of Devin Radford as vice president of business development in late May.

Adair brings 10 years of gaming industry experience to his new role at Homa, and his product leadership experience prepares him to make a “significant contribution” to Homa. He started in the industry at Zynga, running the Dawn of Titans and Zynga Poker teams, before moving to Scopely.

Monopoly GO! maker is where Adair has spent eight of his 10 years in the industry (so far) as CEO and product leader. He has been involved in games such as Kingdom Maker and WWE Champions, as well as corporate initiatives such as updating the greenlighting framework, creating and launching new games.

BBC Studios hires former Bossa Studios CCO Marina Mello as its first global director of games and interactive gaming

Anne-Marie Pelkonen is the new head of performance marketing at Rovio

Anne-Marie shared on LinkedIn about her journey from Associate Director to Director of Performance Marketing over a decade-long career at Rovio.

During this time, Anne-Marie rose from specialist to executive, leading user acquisition strategies and product marketing for popular games such as Angry Birds. In previous positions, she also managed player support and licensing agreements.

Before Rovio, Anne-marie worked at H&M and Stockmann and in customer service at OP-Pohjola Group and Sanoma.

Brett Hunt is a new market analyst at Newzoo

“After 2.5 years at Newzoo and almost six years in Europe, I am very happy to share that I joined the Newzoo market analyst team last week,” he wrote on LinkedIn. “It’s exciting to be at the foot of a new climb. The amount of learning ahead is a bit daunting, but welcome nonetheless. I have never felt more at home, literally and figuratively.”

Hunt has a diverse background in data analytics, product management and business development, having previously worked as a business development representative at Newzoo.

His experience includes managing media and visualization products at GRID esports and developing strategy for esports initiatives at Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation.

Lona Hreninciuc joins Huuuge Games as Chief Product Officer

Prior to gaining experience as CPO at Huuuge Games, Lona co-founded Runware and previously served as CPO at Homa Games and held multiple key roles at GameAnalytics, including CEO, COO and Head of Product, for over five years.

She joins Huuuge Games and the Huuuge Casino studio to help usher in a new era of growth and player focus, and expressed her excitement at the opportunity to work on one of the titles that shaped and continues the social casino genre.

“I love working with game developers and being part of the success story of a given title,” he writes on LinkedIn. “I’m really happy to be able to take everything I’ve learned over the last 10 years about leading high-performance teams and using data to develop games, and then apply it to genre-defining titles like Huuuge Casino and Billionaire Casino.”

Oskari Nivara joins Rovio as the new head of public relations

Nivara previously worked as a senior brand and PR specialist at Rovio and before that he worked as a communications specialist at Talous ja nuoret TAT, focusing on helping young people develop economic and professional skills.

He also served as Miltton’s communications coordinator, where he focused on empowering changemakers.

“Despite the difficulties of being a brave and impatient child who is still trying to understand things, I am very excited about my new role and the new areas I can start to explore. I feel proud, motivated and happy,” he wrote on LinkedIn.

Devin Radford joins Homa as the new vice president of business development

Devin Radford, with 18 years of experience in business development, joins Homa after serving as an executive at video game licensing company OneTeam Partners and serving in executive positions at Disney and FoxNext.

In his new role, Radford will enhance Homa’s game development ecosystem and lead strategic partnerships with studios, including driving Homa’s transition into game publishing, forging new third-party deals, as well as Homa’s product strategies and corporate development teams to create new games.

“I am truly excited to join Homa at this pivotal time in its development and to work with such an experienced team. I look forward to connecting with the best studios that can contribute to Homa’s mission of providing audiences with incredible gaming experiences,” said Radford.

Fingersoft appoints Mikko Kirmanen as head of development

After seven years at Fingersoft, Mikko Kirmanen was promoted again, this time to the position of development director. The new role means Kirmanen will now lead the marketing department aimed at growing Fingersoft “through great games.”

This promotion saw Kirmanen move up from his role as director of user acquisition, where he tested ad creatives, UA KPIs, channels, and more. He has clearly proven himself worthy of continued responsibility and Fingersoft’s focus on keeping it “small and personal” “the relaxed, relaxed and informal work atmosphere” is reflected in this internal promotion, which has seen Kirmanen remain with the company since he joined in 2017 publishing director.

“I feel honored and grateful to have been selected as the new Chief Development Officer at Fingersoft! I will do everything in my power to lead the teams in the development department – busy times are ahead,” he wrote on LinkedIn.

Michael Pattison is the new vice president of Lightspeed Studios

Michael Pattison joins Lightspeed Studios with over twenty years of industry experience. Pattison worked in senior positions at THQ and Capcom before becoming lead third-party publisher, developer relations and global marketing for Sony Interactive Entertainment in 2013.

Pattison previously served as CEO of Team 17 after eight years at PlayStation.

With over 28 years of experience in the creative technology industry, Michael’s experience spans multiple areas of the business, including senior management positions across platforms, publishers and developers working across console, PC, mobile, streaming and subscription models.

“The hiring of Pattison is invaluable as we continue to innovate and create exceptional gaming experiences for our players on a global scale,” said Steve C Martin, vice president of Lightspeed.

Tracey Watson has been promoted to senior manager of content design at Netflix

Tracey Watson, who previously held four positions at Netflix, will be promoted to senior manager of content design.

Previously, Watson was the UX and Content Design Lead at Netflix Games, as Content Design Manager at Emerging Content Experience, and before that, a Games Content Designer.

Prior to her career at Netflix, Watson worked as a studio head of narrative design at King, working on Candy Crush Saga. There, she managed a team of narrative designers and led the narrative design department at King’s flagship studio in Stockholm, overseeing creative story, game and brand elements for multiple titles across studios.

Commenting on her new appointment, she said: “It helps that I have the best team and partners in the industry!” in a post on LinkedIn.