Executive Staff
The Sony Online Entertainment executive staff team consists of both gamers and leaders in the Interactive Entertainment Industry, who not only know the industry inside out, but also from outside in.
John Smedley
President As President of Sony Online Entertainment LLC, John Smedley oversees the company's overall vision and growth. He has more than a decade of experience in the interactive entertainment industry, including positions with ATG, Knight Technologies and five years with Sony Online Entertainment as Director of Development. Full Bio | Blog
Russell Shanks
Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer As Chief Operating Officer, Russell Shanks oversees the product development studios, community relations and technical operations groups of Sony Online Entertainment LLC. The product development group includes six studios located worldwide and is responsible for successful franchises such as EverQuest® (EQ), EverQuest® II (EQII), Untold Legends, Champions of Norrath™, Star Wars Galaxies™ and Planetside. Full Bio
Andrew S. Zaffron
Executive Vice President and General Counsel Bringing 20 years of experience to his position, Andy Zaffron is responsible for all of Sony Online Entertainment LLC Legal & Business Affairs as Executive Vice President and General Counsel.Zaffron is marking his 15th anniversary with Sony companies this year. Before joining SOE in 2000, he was Director of Legal & Business Affairs at Sony Computer Entertainment America, responsible for property licensing, litigation management, and providing legal and business affairs support to the PlayStation® sales, finance, operations and customer service groups.
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Torrie Dorrell
Senior Vice President, Global Sales and Marketing Torrie Dorrell, Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing for Sony Online Entertainment LLC, is responsible for managing the company's global marketing, sales, web presence and public relations departments, as well as helping to establish the long-term strategic direction for the company's efforts to reach new audiences.Dorrell is a seasoned entertainment industry executive with a wide range of experience across multiple mediums.
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Rich Lawrence
Chief Technology Officer Rich Lawrence is the Chief Technology Officer for Sony Online Entertainment LLC, responsible for overseeing the well-being of the programming organization as a whole, its products and efficiently using our technologies to create fun and involving games.Lawrence has been with Sony Online Entertainment since 2001 and has held various positions, including Director of Technology and Studio Director at SOE, where he produced PlanetSide and Champions of Norrath.
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John Hayase
Executive Director of Development, Head of Global Studios John Hayase is the Executive Director of Development and Head of Global Studios for Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) based in San Diego. Hayase is responsible for leading all game production at SOE, overseeing the studios located in San Diego, Austin, Seattle, Denver, Los Angeles and Taipei.Prior to joining SOE, Hayase served as the General Manager of EA's China Online Studio in Shanghai, China, where he was responsible for the development, launch and support of EA-branded casual and mid-session online titles for Asian markets.
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John Blakely
Vice President of Development, SOE Austin John Blakely is the Vice President of Development for Sony Online Entertainment LLC Austin. Blakely is responsible for building the development teams, setting the overall vision and delivering all of the Austin-based products for SOE.Blakely has more than a dozen years of management experience in the games industry, holding key leadership positions with Magnet Interactive Studios, VR1 and Sony Online Entertainment.
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Matt Wilson
Director of Development, SOE Seattle Matt Wilson is the Director of Development for the Seattle studio of Sony Online Entertainment LLC, where he oversees work on the upcoming title, The Agency.Before joining SOE, Wilson held various positions at Microsoft Corp., such as writing code for the DirectX Group, providing product support for Word 6.0, and producing and programming online games and MMOs, such as Asheron's Call and Dungeon Siege.
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Scott Martins
Director of Development, SOE Denver Scott Martins is Director of Development and Denver studio head for Sony Online Entertainment LLC, where the team's focus is strategy and trading card game genres, including Legends of Norrath, Stargate Online TCG, Pirates CSG Online, and Star Chamber. Full Bio
Dave Dhunjishaw
Vice President of Operations As the Vice President of Operations, Dhunjishaw is responsible for operational IT teams, setting the overall vision and direction for SOE's accounts and commerce systems, IT systems and internationalization operations.Throughout his ten years at SOE, Dhunjishaw has been involved in the accounts and commerce system launch for EverQuest® and subsequent titles, various infrastructure software development and operations support management positions.
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Louis Corrado
Director of Human Resources Louis Corrado is head of Human Resources for Sony Online Entertainment, responsible for the design, development and implementation of all SOE's Human Resource policies.Corrado first joined Sony in 1990 and has served many HR positions over the years with Sony Electronics, Sony Corporation of America and Sony Pictures.
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