© All rights reserved. Griffin Gaming Partners 2021

Our Team

Based on experience, led by instinct.

A world class team and network supporting you in every stage of growth.

Founders

Managing Director

Phil Sanderson

Phil has been working with gaming entrepreneurs as a venture capitalist for the past 23 years. His investments include some of the leading game infrastructure and content companies in the world such as Discord, Phoenix Labs, Vivox, Triller, Funzio and more.

Favorite Game

Dungeons & Dragons

Managing Director

Peter Levin

Peter brings decades of operational experience to Griffin. Previously: President of Interactive Ventures, Games, & Digital Strategy at Lionsgate; Co-founder and CEO of Nerdist Industries (acq. by Legendary); co-teacher of USC esports course; early advisor to and investor in Rovio (Angry Birds).

Favorite Game

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Managing Director

Nick Tuosto

Nick, co-founder of Griffin and managing director of LionTree, has advised across gaming: Tencent (Supercell), Kabam (Netmarble), FoxNext (Scopely), AppLovin (MZ), Phoenix Labs (Garena), Roblox, PlayStudios (Acies), AT&T (Playdemic), Take-Two (Zynga), among many others

Favorite Game

Magic: The Gathering

Investment Team

Chris Hollenbeck

Chief Financial Officer

Chris brings over 20 years of financial and investment experience to Griffin as CFO. Previously: Managing Director at The Blueshirt Group; CFO at Smule; Managing Director at Granite Ventures.

Favorite Game

World of Warcraft

Emily Wang

Managing Director (LionTree)

Emily brings deal evaluation and execution expertise to Griffin and has advised on $15 billion+ of sell-side and buy-side M&A transactions, including Next Games, N3TWORK, and GameSpot/GameFAQs/Metacritic. Previously: Managing Director at Code Advisors; formerly J.P. Morgan

Favorite Game

Overcooked

Pierre Planche

Partner

Pierre brings over a decade of investing, product management, and corporate development (M&A) expertise. Focused on software/infrastructure and gaming content that differentiates by leveraging emerging technologies or innovates on genre and gameplay loops. Former esports competitor.

Favorite Game

Magic: The Gathering

Frankie Zhu

Liontree

Frankie brings financial analysis, valuation, and deal execution expertise on the Griffin team. He currently covers Interactive Entertainment Investment Banking at LionTree.

Favorite Game

Dota 2

Boyoung Kim

Investor

Boyoung hails from the equity research industry, where she covered software and telecom. Previously: Citi, Bloomberg.

Favorite Game

Just Dance

Ibrahim Hafeez

Investor

Ibrahim comes from the gaming and strategy consulting industry. Previously: Electronic Arts, KPMG

Favorite Game

FIFA

SWAPAN DIGHE

ANALYST

Swapan comes from the strategy consulting and FinTech industry. Previously: Mach49, PEAK6.

Favorite Game

Apex Legends

Seth Nutt

Associate (LionTree)

Seth provides analysis from a financial and valuation perspective. He currently covers Interactive Entertainment Investment Banking at LionTree.

Favorite Game

Rocket League

Roberto Maccagan

Analyst (Liontree)

Roberto provides financial analysis & deal execution support on the Griffin team. He currently covers Interactive Entertainment Investment Banking at LionTree. Previously: Deutsche Bank.

Favorite Game

League of Legends

Stuart Nguyen

Analyst (LionTree)

Stuart provides financial analysis & deal execution support on the Griffin team. He currently covers Interactive Entertainment Investment Banking at LionTree.

Favorite Game

Halo Infinite

Isaac Ruiz

Vice President, Finance

Isaac brings 20+ years of venture industry experience in compliance, finance, legal, ops, & investor relations. Previously: Hambrecht & Quist, Granite Ventures, Tandem Capital, Pantera Capital and Cooley LLP.

Favorite Game

Sea of Thieves

Jennifer Mannion

Head of Talent

Jennifer brings over 15 years of recruiting in games to Griffin as Head of Talent. Previously: scaled and led teams at N3TWORK, Glu Mobile, DeNA/ngmoco, and Concept Art House.

Marissa Toomey

HR + Office Administrator Manager

Marissa brings provides HR and Office Administrative expertise to the Griffin Team. Previously: FaZe Clan

Favorite Game

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell

Lexi Monaghan

Head of Marketing

Lexi brings a wealth of brand marketing experience across the gaming and entertainment industries. Previously: Blizzard Entertainment, Adobe.

Favorite Game

CoD Zombies

Lindsay Krause

Chief of Staff

Lindsay brings creative and organizational expertise. Previously: Director of Program Development for The Fred Silverman Company; Development for Fox 2000; United Talent Agency.

Favorite Game

Lily's Garden

Hudson

Chief Morale Officer

Hudson is the leader of Griffin's pack. He is very vocal, and nothing makes him happier than a guest appearance on a Zoom call.

Favorite Game

Tug of War

VENTURE PARTNERS & ADVISORS

Advisor

Mich Mathews-Spradlin

Mich adds 30+ years of strategic and marketing experience as an Advisor at Griffin. Currently: Board Member at Wendy’s, Jacana, You & Mr Jones, The Bougs, Gennev and Caltech. Previously: CMO and SVP of Marketing at Microsoft.

Favorite Game

Pokémon Go

Venture Partner

Mike Capps

Mike adds 15+ years of gaming industry leadership to Griffin’s deal team as a Venture Partner. Previously: President of Epic Games; Founder of Scion Studios.

Favorite Game

Ultima IV

Venture Partner

Tammy McDonald

Tammy brings 22+ years of successful strategic & tactical leadership within the video game & tools development, esports, digital & entertainment industries. Previously: CEO Axis Game Factory, CEO Vision Scape Interactive.

Favorite Game

Astrosmash

Venture Partner

Jim Huntley

Jim is a Marketing Consultant and a Professor in the #1 ranked USC Games program, with 25 years of experience in entertainment, games, toys and CPG. Previously: THQ, Mattel, General Mills

Favorite Game

Mass Effect Trilogy

Venture Partner

Riz Virk

Riz brings a deep entrepreneurial and investment background in gaming to Griffin's deal team as a Venture Partner. Previously: GM at DeNA; Investor in Tapjoy.

Favorite Game

Second Life

Venture Partner

Daniel Engelhardt

Daniel brings 15+ years of games and media experience to Griffin’s deal team as a Venture Partner. Previously: SVP of Interactive Ventures & Games at Lionsgate, also oversaw nine animated film & television projects there.

Favorite Game

Spider-Man

Venture Partner

Vic Bassey

Vic adds extensive knowledge of the African games industry to Griffin's team. Currently: Founder of Batch54 and GamesIndustryAfrica.com, Business Development Manager at Raw Fury. Previously: PC Games Partnerships at Tobii AB.

Favorite Game

Bloodborne

Venture Partner

Koh Kim

Koh adds 10+ years of publishing, business development, and web3 experience in games to Griffin. Currently: Head of Ecosystem Partnerships & Marketing, Mysten Labs. Previously: Business Development at Google Play Games.

Favorite Game

NieR: Automata

Venture Partner

Abel Mathew

10+ years as a software developer, 7+ years as the CEO/Co-Founder of Backtrace I/O, Abel brings a wealth of experience in the fields of game tech, SaaS, and software development. Currently: CTO of Sauce Labs.

Favorite Game

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Venture Partner

Chris Quaidoo

Chris hails from the investment management industry and has led investments in Activision-Blizzard and Glu Mobile. Current Berkeley Haas MBA candidate; previously Associate at Story Ventures.

Favorite Game

Halo 2

Venture Partner

Doug Bemis

Doug brings 15+ years of machine learning and natural language processing expertise. Previously: Founder and CTO at Geometric Intelligence, acquired by Uber to form the nucleus of Uber AI Labs; CTO at Windward Mark Interactive, a video game development studio acquired by Linden Lab. Doug holds a PhD from NYU in Computational Neuroscience.

Favorite Game

Halo Infinite

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