BREAKING – Games Workshop Announce New CEO
November 11, 2014 by warzan
Here's the lowdown...
"The Board of Games Workshop is pleased to announce the appointment of Kevin Rountree as Chief Executive Officer with effect from 1 January 2015.
Tom Kirby, Chairman and Acting Chief Executive Officer, will take up the position of Non-Executive Chairman with effect from that date.
Kevin, 45, joined Games Workshop in 1998. He is currently Chief Operating Officer of the Company.
Commenting on the appointment, Tom Kirby said: "The Board undertook a thorough process in selecting our new CEO, receiving a significant number of applications for the position, both internal and external. Kevin was the outstanding candidate.
The board congratulates Kevin on his appointment and wishes him every success in his new role.""
So an appointment from the ranks - Not Unexpected, so do we reckon change is on the horizon or business as usual?
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wow his letter must have been AWESOME to have beaten justins.
Er Ma Gerd!!!
Round of applause for your name.
“Kevin Rountree joined Games Workshop in March 1998 as assistant group accountant. He then had various management roles within Games Workshop, including head of sales for the Other Activities division (including Black Library, licensing and Sabertooth Games). Kevin was appointed CFO in September 2009. During the year ended 29 May 2011, he took on the responsibility of managing the Group’s service centres globally. To reflect this, his title was changed to chief operating officer from chief financial officer. He, however, still retains responsibility for all financial matters within Games Workshop. He qualified as a chartered management accountant in August 2001.… Read more »
Sounds a bit like the CV of an ‘administrator’
Though Tim Cook (apple) got promoted from a similar role…
Ooo an accountant can’t wait to see the amazing figures? will be coming out of GW now then. LOL
@dignity is inconsolable, ‘he should a been a contenda!’
My guess would be that a promotion from the ranks = little or no change.
I would have preferred the board to hire someone to “clean house”, so to speak. They’re circling the plug hole.
They wonder why the company is not growing and yet the industry is getting larger. I was hoping for new blood so i could get back into 40k. Oh well, there are other companies like mantic. I hope the warpath reboot is a good one, because I will be out of 40k for a while.
I don’t think that’s how they see it. Their stated business model is a fascinating insight into how they view the market and their place in it.
Not expecting any changes now
As I posted in the forum. The wagons have circled just that little bit tighter. Expect no change. No change is coming. Kirby has got the man he wants and trusts – i.e. one who will make absolutely no changes to policy whatsoever. Prices will continue to rise exponentially, originality will continue to spiral downwards, and they will continue to act like d*ckwads to the community.
An Accountant? mmmmm will it be for love of money and the share holders or lover for the hobby its self. Of corse i know GW is first and foremost a business there is no point in denying that, but could the new CEO inject new life in to the sleeping giant.
Business as usual it looks like to me. I honestly feel GW won’t change much, if at all. The next financial report will be interesting, but I’m not going to hold my breath for them to do anything too radical with their business model. If I were to be really negative from a point of total ignorance I’d say it looks like a ‘Yes Man’ appointment. I think they are far too insular for their own good IMHO. I could be wrong and may be using a large brush here, but accountants aren’t exactly known for their powers of creative… Read more »
I don’t think GW think they need to do anything other than what they’re already doing – “Our continual investment in product quality, using our defendable intellectual property, provides us with a considerable barrier to entry for potential competitors: it is our Fortress Wall. While our 400 or so Hobby centres which show customers how to collect, paint and play with our miniatures and games provide another barrier to entry: our Fortress Moat. We have been building our Fortress Wall and Moat for many years and the competitive advantage they provide gives us confidence in our ability to grow profitably… Read more »
(tumbleweeds)
I heard it came down to two candidates; the winner, who you know, was only a default choice. Randal “Bucky” Smith from Blanchester Ohio, USA, was the first choice. Randal had an impressive resume, among other noted achievements he was a Dungeon Master of the 7th degree, collector of an impressive 20pt. Tyranid army, captain of his local Star Trek fan club and 7-time winner of the local Infinity ITS tournament that he runs semi-annually with his cousins Carl, Phil and other Carl; so far they are the only participants and Randal has won every time. This was highly impressive… Read more »
Lol.
Sorry mate, you’re giving me no choice but send a cease and desist as the name in this story looks lot like my name Ranbal Smyth.
I understand your concern, but seeing as how smith, smyth, and smythe are all exceedingly common names, and arguably names in the public domain or common usage, I think you will find that you will be unsuccessful in court. I fear that your only recourse will be to change your name to Astra Smithitarum and proceed from there. 🙂
Far more interesting that the original news story.
Well, they had their chance, they used it, was it a wise choice?
I really do not know, its too early to start digging the new guys grave, but the indications we all predicted, internal hiring, not creative guy, tick in, who knows he may be the right guy, just have too much bad heritage behind him.
Regardless who runs them, as long as their culture is “we make miniatures for collectors” and they behave accordingly, they are destined for failure.
Hmmm… you know how the last weekender asked the question “should GW ever crowdfund?” and the consensus seems to be that no, they’d be too embarrased to fail. Why? Because it’s all about perception and the risk that it would backfire… So why, for f@#ks sake, go top all the bother of announcing (all modern social media style) some ‘open’ CEO recruitment activity that comes across all innovative and creative only to then announce the most boring, predicatable, safe appointment imaginable. Feels to me similar to a crowdfunding attempt that just failed so they’re resorting to good old fashioned, take… Read more »
In (entirely undeserved) fairness to them, even with the “send us your dreams” application process, we were only ever going to see some chump in a dull suit who had previously worked for either Price Waterhouse or Goldman-Sachs (other malignant vampire squids are available). Hiring Tharl the Magnificent who rides many leagues from the Skytorn Mountains to sit on great council. was never a likely outcome…
They did manage an internal (=extra malleable) suit who had previously worked for Price Waterhouse though.
As Sir Terry Pratchett said…
Ave! Duci Novo, similis duci seneca!
The promotion from within sounds like there just trying protect the market share. But the problem is in a growing market even if your sales stay the same your overall market share actually drops.
Personally I’m hoping things getting shaken up a little at GW feels like they have become a bit stagnant and are not the new and innovative company they once were.
Wow, they’ve appointed their own accountant to run the business. And Kirby is still in charge as a non-exec.No change there then.
Price hikes and lower quality to reduce overheads on the horizon.
for like 25 seconds i hoped to see again Warhammer with baggage rules….
Wow… send us a letter and we’ll appoint an existing senior exec … quelle suprise’ 🙂
I have to agree with JAREC, no change here in real teams I see for the immediate future.
Party On Dudes!
I will admit, I was quite excited when I heard that GW was looking for a new CEO, I was under the impression that they recognized that the shit had hit the fan after that stock drop earlier this year, and they needed someone to really shake up their business. Now we can expect they will stick with the “tried and true” methods. The issue being that they are leaving themselves wide open to disruptive methods, and I feel companies like privateer press are going to decimate them in the short and long run, as they are able to keep… Read more »
Anyone
I must say it’s not a very nice way to find out I didn’t get the post but at least I’ll get to keep my good reputaion.
Anyone remember the Troubleshooter programs on TV. I’d love to see one on GW not that I’d want to see a really negative review but it would be good to see an independent assessment of the way the company is run.
They don’t listen to customers what chance has a outsider got then.
As I put on Facebook “Just a suggestion to throw in. Why is the assumption that this guy doesn’t care about the product? I work in finance and I play Warhammer. Isn’t it worth giving the guy 18 to 24 months before we condemn him?”
You’re right of course, but from what I’ve heard of GW’s internal culture and the business model, some of which is expressed already in these comments with past quotes from GW themselves, I still can’t see them taking any risks with their games or even realising why they’ve been losing money and custom. One can hope someone with genuine grounding, passion for the IP and a sense of the external market has become CEO with enough gall to tell Kirby et al they’ve had a gak year and why this may be the case, but it seems like a thin… Read more »
First off there will be change. Anyone who has worked for long enough knows that when someone ‘new’ comes into a position of ‘leadership’ they make changes. They need to be seen to be making a difference. But as he was internal and previously promoted by thos ein power he will have the same types of ideas. The change will not be radical re-thinking. Second he is an accountant (probably by nature as well) so the change will most likely revolve around streamlining (ie cost cutting). So yes it will be more of the same but just that little bit… Read more »
Oh, well nothing changes…. No innovation..to be expected to be honest… No doubt a price rise will occur pretty soon