British esports franchise Team Dignitas, which was recently acquired by NBA team Philadelphia 76ers, has appointed a new CEO, former game development executive Jonathan Kemp.
Kemp was the managing director of Eidos Interactive's UK front, which was acquired by Square Enix for £84.3 million in 2009. During his time at Eidos, the company published games in the Tomb Raider and Hitman video game series. After leaving Eidos, he acted as the International Olympic Committee's interactive entertainment partner during the London Olympic Games in 2012.
Kemp joins Dignitas after it was acquired by the Philadelphia 76ers along with Apex Gaming on Sept. 26. With the merger, the team appointed a new chairman for the organization, Greg Richardson, who also has worked in video and gaming industries before his time with Team Dignitas.
"We obviously have big ambitions, relative to having a championship caliber team for every game we compete in," Team Dignitas chairman Greg Richardson tells ESPN. "We also want to build an exciting business that can give back to the fans real value across every aspect of the business. So as we stepped back and looked at everything that had to get done, both with the team building and the business operations, we clearly needed a world-class CEO to make that happen. We weren't sure if that was something we need to do right away or needed to wait, but when the opportunity to work with Jonathan came along, it felt like it was too good of an opportunity to pass up to get someone of his caliber in. So we kind of accelerated our plans."
The Dignitas organization now has a presence in some of the industry's biggest esports, including League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm and Smite. The organization was originally founded in 2003 by Michael "ODEE" O'Dell as a Battlefield 1942 clan. With the acquisition by the 76ers, O'Dell has moved to an operations manager position.