Meet Our Team

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

Leadership Team

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).

Peter Levin

Managing Director

Favorite Game
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Nick has advised across gaming companies Tencent (Supercell), Kabam (Netmarble), FoxNext (Scopely), AppLovin (MZ), Phoenix Labs (Garena), Roblox, PlayStudios (Acies), AT&T (Playdemic), Take-Two (Zynga), among many others.

Nick Tuosto

Managing Director

Favorite Game
Magic: The Gathering
Tim leads strategy and developer outreach for Hooded Horse. He loves finding and speaking with developers. Previously, Tim was a consultant for McKinsey & Company and a commercial litigator, and he holds a JD from Stanford and two Master’s Degrees from Harvard.

Tim Bender

Managing Director, Special Opportunities Fund

Favorite Game
XCOM
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.

Phil Sanderson

Senior Partner

Favorite Game
Dungeons & Dragons
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.

Emily Wang

Partner, CFO & COO

Favorite Game
Overcooked
Pierre invests across game studios, platforms, and tech. He brings over a decade of investing, product, and corporate development (M&A) expertise. Avid gamer and former esports competitor.

Pierre Planche

Partner

Favorite Game
Magic: The Gathering
Frankie brings financial analysis and deal execution expertise on the Griffin team. He is currently also a Managing Director at GoodGame Advisors covering Interactive Entertainment Investment Banking. Previously, he was an Investment Banker at LionTree.

Frankie Zhu

Partner

Favorite Game
Dota 2

Investment Team

Matt brings over 18 years of experience in the video game industry with a focus on independent creators. Previously: Valve Software (Steam), Devolver Digital.

Matt Nickerson

Head of Business Development

Favorite Game

Shadow of the Colossus

Matt brings a diverse background in publishing, entertainment, and game development to Griffin. Previously: ESL FACEIT, Travian Games, Paradox Interactive.

Matt Hoving

Director of Business Development

Favorite Game

FoNoita & Alpha Centauri

Jingtong brings 6+ years of experience in game publishing and cross-market strategy. She has worked in publishing production across China and Europe, supporting games across PC, consoles and mobile. Previously: tinyBuild, XD.

jingtong zhu

Director of Business Development

Favorite Game

Shogun Showdown

Seth brings financial analysis and deal execution expertise on the Griffin team. He is currently also the Chief of Staff at GoodGame Advisors, where he was previously an Investment Banker. Prior to GoodGame Advisors, he was an Investment Banker at LionTree.

SETH NUTT

Principal

Favorite Game

Luigi’s Mansion

Daniel brings financial analysis and deal execution expertise on the Griffin team. He is currently also a Vice President at GoodGame Advisors covering Interactive Entertainment Investment Banking. Previously, he spent time at Airtable helping drive the Self-Serve business and was an Investment Banker at LionTree.

Daniel Wu

Investor

Favorite Game

Tunic

Stuart brings financial analysis and deal execution expertise on the Griffin team. He is currently also an Associate at GoodGame Advisors covering Interactive Entertainment Investment Banking. Previously, he was an Investment Banker at LionTree.

Stuart Nguyen

Investor

Favorite Game

Fortnite

Jakob brings a decade of gaming M&A and product expertise to Griffin, alongside deep relationships with founders, investors, and industry leaders. Previously: Play Ventures, Rovio (Angry Birds; acq. by Sega), Wargaming.

Jakob Longer

Investor

Favorite Game
Old School Runescape
Matt provides financial and valuation analysis to the Griffin team. Previously, he worked in investment banking at Raymond James.

Matt Matese

Investor

Favorite Game

CS2/CS:GO

Jack brings experience with mergers and acquisitions, capital raising, and other strategic financial transactions to the Griffin team. Previously, he was an Investment Banking Analyst at B. Riley Securities.

Jack Baldner

Investor

Favorite Game
Call of Duty
Panachai provides financial and valuation analysis to the Griffin team. Previously, he worked in technology investment banking at Centerview Partners.

Panachai Chauychoo

Investor

Favorite Game
Teamfight Tactics
Emily provides financial and valuation analysis to the Griffin team. Previously, she worked in media investment banking at The Raine Group.

Emily Gelfand

Investor

Favorite Game
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

Operations team

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.

Isaac Ruiz

VP, Finance

Favorite Game
Sea of Thieves
Altisha brings extensive experience in asset management audits for investment firms, including Venture Capital and Private Equity. Previously: KPMG US. She specializes in investment valuations, process optimization, workflow automation, and ensuring compliance with GAAP and SEC regulations.

Altynai Raeva

Senior Fund Accountant

Favorite Game
Mortal Kombat
Jennifer brings over 15 years of recruiting in games to Griffin. Previously: N3TWORK, Glu Mobile, DeNA/ngmoco, Concept Art House.

Jennifer Mannion

Head of Talent

Favorite Game
Tetris
With over seven years of experience as an IT Consultant, John has worked with more than 20 small and medium-sized businesses across the San Francisco Bay Area, providing guidance on IT strategy and implementation.

john geary

Head of IT

Favorite Game
Halo 3
Grace brings 10+ years of experience in social media and community management within the games industry. Previously: Creative Assembly, Jagex, Payload Studios.

Grace Carroll

Marketing Manager

Favorite Game
Road Trip Adventure
Amira brings 5+ years of administrative and operations experience across various financial institutions to Griffin. Previously: CODE Advisors.

AMIRA JANBAY

Executive Assistant

Favorite Game
Citadels
Jessica brings 7+ years of executive support experience within family offices. Previously: Steyn Group, KJJF Supercharged Initiative.

jessica vargas

Executive Assistant

Favorite Game
Kingdom Hearts
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.

Hudson

Chief Morale Officer

Favorite Game
Tug of War

Venture Partners

Alex is a media rights and venture executive with significant experience architecting transformative platform partnerships and investments across entertainment, emerging tech, and interactive media. He was previously the Head of Corporate Innovation & Ventures at Warner Music Group and Head of Music at X.

Alex kamins

Venture Partner

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.

Chris Quaidoo

Venture Partner

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.

doug bemis

Venture Partner

Jason Della Rocca is a game business consultant, investor, funding advisor, and ecosystem strategist. He currently spends the bulk of his time advising game studio founders on funding and product strategy, and advising governments around the world how to better grow/support the success of their regional game development ecosystem.

Jason Della Rocca

Venture Partner

Jessica is the Co-Founder and CEO of Seven Falls, a games focused entertainment foundry. Previously: Founder Casual Games Association, GSN Games, Oberon Media

Jessica Tams

Venture Partner

Co-Founder and CEO of Critical Path Games, Jesse Houston has 20+ years of creative leadership in gaming. Previously CEO of Phoenix Labs, Head of Product at Riot Games, Lead Producer at BioWare, and various other development roles.

Jesse houston

Venture Partner

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

Jim Huntley

Venture Partner

Leo has over 25 years in games and is known for his work in gaming across Microsoft, YouTube, Google and Meta. He has shipped over 100 games at developers like BioWare, Zynga, Disney and WB Games. Leo has consistently championed STEM initiatives and worked to build a more representative and accessible gaming industry worldwide.

Leo Olebe

Venture Partner

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.

Mich Mathews-Spradlin

Venture Partner

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.

Mike Capps

Venture Partner

Mike Sepso is a legendary figure in the games industry, who is responsible for building esports from a grassroots scene into a global phenomenon as co-founder of MLG. Beyond esports, Mike is an active angel investor in AI-native tools for the creator and entertainment economy, Co-Founder of Popsical Music Group and a board member of 100 Thieves.

Mike Sepso

Venture Partner

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.

Riz VIRK

Venture Partner

Russell is a Partner as Striker Entertainment. He specializes in the extension and exploitation of IP with a specialty in toys, video games, apparel, location based entertainment, lifestyle, and film and television.

Russell binder

Venture Partner