Sean Shoptaw promoted to Disney Games EVP as leadership team expands
Disney Games has expanded its leadership team with two new hires of industry veterans, as well as three internal promotions.
Ray Gresko and Bjorn Tornqvist have joined the Disney Games team in new executive positions, while Jay Ong has been promoted. All three will report to Sean Shoptaw, who has been promoted to executive vice president of Disney Games.
Gresko, former chief development officer at Blizzard Entertainment, has been hired as senior vice president of production and development. He has more than three decades of games industry experience as a programmer, designer, producer, and executive.
He began his career at LucasArts as a lead programmer for games such as Star Wars: Dark Forces, and oversaw development on Overwatch, Hearthstone, and Diablo 3 during his time at Blizzard.
Tornqvist started his role as vice president of games technology in November last year. He has worked in leadership roles at Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment for over two decades, during which he founded Ubisoft's digital games publishing platform.
Ong, who previously led the Marvel Games team, will now lead the global games marketing business. He has over 25 years of experience in the industry, having worked at Marvel, Blizzard Entertainment, EA Sports, and Xbox.
Haluk Mentes will take over Ong's previous role, with Mentes previously being head of strategy and business at Marvel Games.
"Under the leadership of Shoptaw and Ong, Disney's games business is perfectly positioned to deliver world-class storytelling in this medium," said Disney consumer products president Tasia Filippatos.
"We're grateful to every member of the Disney Games team who has contributed to our success, and who will help shape the future of this industry through genre-defining entertainment."
These leadership changes come after the Walt Disney Company announced its $1.5 million investment in Epic Games this February, in which it also announced a major partnership with Fortnite.
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