- Activision Blizzard announced it hired David Messinger and Claudine Naughton as its chief marketing officer and chief people officer, respectively.
Gaming giant Activision Blizzard announced it has hired CAA veteran David Messinger as the company’s first’s corporate-wide chief marketing officer and former American International Group exec Claudine Naughton as the head of global human resources.
“I have a profound admiration for Activision Blizzard’s track record of developing enduring entertainment franchises,” said Messinger via The Hollywood Reporter. “I’m thrilled to be joining the company and look forward to collaborating with the many talented teams across the organization as we continue to connect these iconic entertainment properties to the many communities of engaged fans around the world.”
According to Variety, Messinger is going to report to Activision Blizzard’s president and COO Coddy Johnson. Messinger previously held leadership positions at The Walt Disney Company, Ticketmaster, and Verum Ventus. And for fifteen years, he served as co-head, CAA marketing for the Creative Artists Agency. At Verum, Messinger was the CEO.
“I’m excited to welcome David as we expand in our mission to deliver epic interactive entertainment to fans around the world,” added Johnson. “His tenure in global entertainment and his expertise in strategic, award-winning marketing campaigns will help our communities to grow and further inspire our players to connect, compete and play.”
Claudine Naughton is going to have the title of chief people officer and will oversee corporate-wide human resources. Naughton will be reporting to Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick. Naughton has more than two decades of experience across a variety of leadership and HR-related positions with the American International Group as the EVP and chief human resources officer.
At American International Group, Naughton modernized the organization’s talent acquisition and recruiting functions, total rewards programs, learning and development experiences, diversity and inclusion efforts, and mentoring/reverse mentoring initiatives for the company’s base of 50,000 employees across 80 countries. Naughton was accepted to the David Rockefeller Fellows Program last year and she is on the board of the Harlem Education Activities Fund.
At Activision Blizzard, Naughton is planning to “foster a culture of excellence, opportunity, and inclusion.”
Brian Stolz — the former chief people officer at Activision Blizzard — is going to be switching to a newly created role at Activision Blizzard as a senior advisor.
