Zynga CEO and Leadership

As Zynga’s CEO and with over 25 years of experience in interactive entertainment, I’ve led the company’s turnaround and transition to rapid growth. Our market cap during my tenure has nearly tripled, due to optimizing live services and fortifying the company’s portfolio of wildly popular franchises, including CSR Racing, Words With Friends, and Zynga Poker. Our groundbreaking series of studio acquisitions, including Gram Games and Small Giant Games, along with innovation and success across our games portfolio, has positioned Zynga as among the fastest growing public gaming companies in the world in 2019. Since I joined in 2016, we have acquired a pipeline of games, including global hits Empires & Puzzles and Merge Dragons! and have secured game development partnerships with some of the world’s most iconic brands and entertainment franchises, such as Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, and Star Wars.

Most recently, I served as the Executive Vice President of EA Mobile, where I led strategy, publishing and product development for the company’s fast-growing mobile games business. In that role, I managed EA’s portfolio of popular mobile franchises including The Simpsons: Tapped Out, Plants vs. Zombies, Real Racing, Bejeweled, Star Wars, Minions, SimCity, EA SPORTS and The Sims. Since joining Zynga, I’ve served as the Chairman of the Corporate Advisory Board for the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. I previously served on the Board of Directors for Cooliris, a mobile content and communication technology company; and, Graphiq, a data visualization company.

Michael is such a hardworking, big-thinking technologist that it prompts questions about whether he’s human or simply an enormous brain. Smart money says the answer is somewhere in between. He’s responsible for overall technology and platform strategy. Prior to Zynga, he designed and built the core systems for eUniverse and developed web caching and filesystem/kernel technology at Network Appliance. He studied music, math, and physics at UC Santa Cruz and enjoys playing the violin and piano.

Gerard Griffin is Zynga’s Chief Financial Officer, overseeing the company’s accounting, finance and investor relations operations. Griffin brings with him 25 years of business experience, and has deep expertise in financial and operational management within the gaming, media and technology sectors. Under Griffin’s financial leadership, over the last year Zynga has sharpened its operating model, improved its efficiency and delivered a marked improvement year-over-year in profitability, cash flow, revenue and bookings. Before joining Zynga, Griffin spent more than 10 years at Electronic Arts, Inc., a global leader in digital interactive entertainment. Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President of Finance where he was the finance leader for EA’s Studios, Marketing and Publishing organizations. Before that, he spent more than six years in Geneva, Switzerland as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for EA International. In that role, Griffin oversaw EA’s international finance functions and served as the lead finance partner to EA’s Chief Operating Officer and Global Publishing organization. At EA, Griffin was a key member of the company’s operating management team responsible for the development and expansion of EA’s games across all platforms including mobile, console and PC. Prior to EA, Gerard held a number of senior finance roles domestically and internationally at technology and media companies, including NBC and Primedia, as well as in public accounting with KPMG in Dublin and New York. Griffin received his Bachelor of Commerce degree from University College Galway and a postgraduate diploma in Professional Accounting from University College Dublin. Additionally, he is a fellow in the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ireland. Griffin is married to wife Paula and has two children and a Yorkie.

Michael is such a hardworking, big-thinking technologist that it prompts questions about whether he’s human or simply an enormous brain. Smart money says the answer is somewhere in between. He’s responsible for overall technology and platform strategy. Prior to Zynga, he designed and built the core systems for eUniverse and developed web caching and filesystem/kernel technology at Network Appliance. He studied music, math, and physics at UC Santa Cruz and enjoys playing the violin and piano.

As Zynga’s CEO and with over 25 years of experience in interactive entertainment, I’ve led the company’s turnaround and transition to rapid growth. Our market cap during my tenure has nearly tripled, due to optimizing live services and fortifying the company’s portfolio of wildly popular franchises, including CSR Racing, Words With Friends, and Zynga Poker. Our groundbreaking series of studio acquisitions, including Gram Games and Small Giant Games, along with innovation and success across our games portfolio, has positioned Zynga as among the fastest growing public gaming companies in the world in 2019. Since I joined in 2016, we have acquired a pipeline of games, including global hits Empires & Puzzles and Merge Dragons! and have secured game development partnerships with some of the world’s most iconic brands and entertainment franchises, such as Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, and Star Wars.

Most recently, I served as the Executive Vice President of EA Mobile, where I led strategy, publishing and product development for the company’s fast-growing mobile games business. In that role, I managed EA’s portfolio of popular mobile franchises including The Simpsons: Tapped Out, Plants vs. Zombies, Real Racing, Bejeweled, Star Wars, Minions, SimCity, EA SPORTS and The Sims. Since joining Zynga, I’ve served as the Chairman of the Corporate Advisory Board for the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. I previously served on the Board of Directors for Cooliris, a mobile content and communication technology company; and, Graphiq, a data visualization company.