Meet Our Team

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

Founders

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

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

Favorite Game

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Favorite Game

Magic: The Gathering

Favorite Game 

Dungeons & Dragons

Investment Team

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 & Chief Operating Officer

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

Favorite Game 

Overcooked

Favorite Game

Magic: The Gathering

Favorite Game

Dota 2

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

Ibrahim Hafeez

Investor

Favorite Game

FIFA
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

Favorite Game

FIFA

Favorite Game

Tunic

Favorite Game

Fortnite

Kavin provides analysis from a financial and valuation perspective. Previously, he worked in interactive entertainment investment banking.

Kavin Kasi

Investor

Favorite Game

Pokemon SoulSilver

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

Favorite Game

Pokemon SoulSilver

Favorite Game

Call of Duty

Favorite Game

Teamfight Tactics

Operations team

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.

Chris Hollenbeck

Chief Financial Officer

Favorite Game

World of Warcraft
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

Favorite Game

World of Warcraft

Favorite Game

Sea of Thieves

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

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

Lexi Monaghan

Head of Marketing

Favorite Game

CoD Zombies

Lindsay brings creative and organizational expertise. Previously: The Fred Silverman Company, Fox 2000, United Talent Agency.

Lindsay Krause

Chief Of Staff

Favorite Game

Lily’s Garden

Favorite Game

Tetris

Favorite Game

CoD Zombies

Favorite Game

Lily’s Garden

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

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

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

Favorite Game

Head of IT

Favorite Game

Citadels

Favorite Game

Tug of War

operating partners

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

Operating Partner

venture partners

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.

Abel Mathew

Venture Partner

Alex leads New Business & Ventures for Warner Music Group, where he oversees partnerships and negotiations with the largest social networks and gaming companies. Kamins also manages WMG’s venture investing arm, WMG Boost, and engagement with the broader startup ecosystem.

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

Elena brings 13+ years of scaling disruptive technologies in advertising, real-money gaming, and web3 in global markets. Previously: a founding sales team member at Immutable, Skillz, and AdColony.

Elena Provine

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

Keyvan is an expert in digital transformation and innovation management. He has advised Fortune 1000 companies, governments, and the fastest-scaling startups around the world. Previously: Cirque du Soleil, Salem Partners, AWS

Keyvan Peymani

Venture Partner

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.

Koh Kim

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-Spraldin

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

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

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.

Tammy McDonald

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

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.

Vic Bassey

Venture Partner