Buena Vista Games, Inc. (BVG), the interactive entertainment arm of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS), today announced two key executive hires to help manage the company's growing video game development and publishing business worldwide. Filling the newly created positions are Raj Murari, vice president, strategic development and integration, and Mark Meyers, vice president, internal studios.
"As we continue to strengthen our internal games publishing operations, it was essential to add new positions in the areas of internal studios management, new business development and operational integration," said Graham Hopper, senior vice president and general manager, Buena Vista Games. "Raj Murari and Mark Meyers bring tremendous experience to the BVG executive team, from development studio operations to building and integrating new business acquisitions and partnerships globally."
As the vice president, strategic development and integration, Raj Murari's responsibilities include creating strategies, seeking out new business opportunities and the global operational integration of BVG business expansion initiatives. He is also responsible for establishing BVG's business in Asia. Murari will report to Graham Hopper.
Murari brings to BVG his functional expertise, global experience and talent for driving teamwork. For the past year, he served as vice president of finance for both global softlines and global toys, Disney Consumer Products (DCP). He joined Disney in Hong Kong in 1996 and was promoted to vice president and CFO of DCP Japan. Later he served as CFO of Walt Disney International – Japan. Prior to joining Disney, Murari spent four years in management consulting for Booz Allen & Hamilton. He has an MBA in strategy and finance from Yale University.
In Mark Meyers' new position as BVG's vice president, internal studios, he will lead BVG's internal studios, Avalanche Software in Salt Lake City and Propaganda Games in Vancouver, and spearhead their continued growth and success. Meyers will also manage studio technologies and set strategies for technology sharing. Additionally, Meyers will manage the integration of these resources into BVG processes and operations. Meyers reports to Mike Ryder, BVG's vice president, worldwide production.
Meyers previously served as studio director at Redzone Studio and co-director of 989 Sports at Sony Computer Entertainment America. In his role at Sony, he developed and managed an organization that was responsible for multiple products on the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Sony's upcoming PlayStation 3. Before this, he spent six years with Midway Games in a variety of production roles, most recently as executive producer, director of engineering.