BRYAN MC NAMARA

GAMER. COMMUNITY BUILDER. COMMS GURU.

Bryan Mc Namara

A BIT ABOUT ME.

I’ve always been a gamer. Since I got my hands on my first console, the NES in the early 90’s I’ve found a great sense of fun, achievement, and friendships through gaming. This evolved and grew with the advent of MMOs. In my mid-teens, I would frequent a LAN gaming center with my friends and we got hooked on EVE Online, a space based real time MMO with complex economics and politics. It was here that I began to grow my leadership, planning and strategic skills. Through years of playing, I found myself helping to lead an alliance of 3000+ players. This involved a huge amount of social interaction, planning, coaching, strategising and combat command. It was awesome!

College life then took over as did working in the real world, so my time for gaming had cut back. I later took up World of Warcraft and have been playing now for 10 years. For the majority of that time I’ve been leading a guild and raid team. I really enjoy the planning and strategising that goes into progressing with a team of players and then carrying that out until we hit our goal!

My passion for gaming has never decreased, only evolved to my joining the game’s industry in 2015, building strong international communities and esport ecosystems all across Europe

WORK & PROJECTS

FOUNDED GEEK IRELAND

I launched Geek Ireland as a platform to highlight geek/nerd culture andevents that were happening throughout Ireland as there was no central location to see what it was that was going on. Shortly after, Geek Ireland transformed into a platform with a much broader scope, covering game and movie reviews, comics, technology, geek news, live event coverage, social events and much more. Currently, I lead a team of 25 voluntary contributors ranging from writers to editors and video content producers.

August 2013

MOVED TO DUBLIN & JOINED AOL

After completing my time studying Accounting and Taxation, as well as serving as a Students’ Union President, I made the move to Dublin to begin working with AOL. My work at AOL most focused on billing and invoicing for all UK advertising entities as well as compliance auditing. While at AOL I served on the groups Corporate Social Responsibility team and lead a team initiative for Monster Help Day.

September 2013

LAUNCHED IRELAND’S FIRST ESPORTS EVENT

If it wasn’t already obvious, I’m a hardcore gamer, particularly in the realm of online games such as League of Legends, World of Warcraft, Fortnite and many other titles. With the rising success of Geek Ireland, I wanted to expand into competitive gaming tournaments, giving rise to the first esport events in Ireland. I found a co-founder who shared a similar vision as I did and in our spare time, we kicked off a humble event called G-Series which went on to see 9 events in its lifetime. G-Series hosted the highest level of competitive play for League of Legends, CS:GO, Call of Duty, Hearthstone and Starcraft 2 in Ireland from 2013 to 2016.

January 2014

JOINED RIOT GAMES

I was able to build a strong relationship with the team at Riot Games in Dublin who supported League of Legends players and community at each G-Series event. By the second event, it was suggested that I apply for the role of Programs Specialist which focused on grassroots play across Europe. I joined Riot games and eventually moved up the ranks to become a senior esport and community lead for Ireland and The UK. As lead I was also a product owner for various initiatives that the team was responsible for, as well as owning and managing the relationship between Riot Games and third-party operators such as ESL, Dreamhack and Multiplay. While at Riot Games, I also had the opportunity to serve as a referee for the LCS and many of the international shows, such as All-Stars and Split Finals. I also developed and hosted Europes onboarding process for new rioters, arming them with the skills to be player facing online and in person.

March 2015

FOUNDED RAID GAMING

With Riot’s expansion of local offices across Europe I was afforded the opportunity to join the UK office and help shape a more focused esport ecosystem for players there, which made the role in Dublin redundant. Moving to the UK was not something I was able to do at that time so I took the chance to go out on my own and launch RAID Gaming. RAID is an esport production company, capable of providing a fully catered esport event, including online tournament operations, broadcasting of play to international standards and hosting live events. RAID Gaming continues to deliver excellence in esport events and has recently completed work with Red Bull and looks forward to working at Dublin Games Week later in 2018.

July 2017

JOINED WHIPPER

I was presented with an opportunity to join a very high potential startup with a super experienced team of leaders and developers who are set to reshape and evolve messaging. I joined initially to help shape out the website and social voice for Whipper, before going full time as the Chief Communications Officer charged with helping the team on upcoming projects such as Horizon 2020 and an ICO later in 2018.

July 2017

“I had the great privilege of working with Bryan for almost three years at Riot Games and during this time he consistently demonstrated growth in terms of strategy, execution and results. On many occasions he would be the ´go to’ guy that many Rioters would approach to help solve problems or to receive advice.”

Pete McKayDirector of Social & Community, Social Point

“Bryan is a powerhouse, describing him as a communications pro wouldn't do justice to the panoply of his skills. He takes and gives direction gracefully, and always has an eye on the bigger picture. Bryan is the secret weapon that can take any organization to the next level, bringing clarity to your communications, social and media strategy.”

Dave McKinleyChief Product Officer, Whipper

“Bryan's leadership is second to none. I've worked with him on multiple projects, and I can honestly say that he's been a huge part of my development on a personal level and as a member of a team. His critical thinking is an invaluable addition to any project, and his ability to lighten the mood when needed makes him a pleasure to work with. ”

MacDara RocheCEO, GamingLayer

“Bryan is a great person to work for and to work with. In my own personal experience in working with him, he molded a team of amateurs into a team that now puts on Irelands biggest eSports event. This would not have been capable without his leadership and guidance.”

Aidan BoylanFounder, College Esports

“Bryan is a hard working and determined director that achieves all goals set out before him. He has excellent team leader skills and is able to coordinate large groups of teams with ease. Bryan skill's make him invaluable to any business.”

Theo GoyvaertsCEO/Founder, Dublin Games Summit

SKILLS & QUALIFICATIONS

LEADERSHIP

85%

RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

90%

CMS (WORDPRESS)

80%

TIME MANAGEMENT

90%

BUSINESS ACUMEN

90%

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT & MANAGEMENT

95%

FORECASTING AND PLANNING

80%

CRM TOOLS (MAILCHIMP, GOOGLE ANALYTICS)

85%

EVENT MANAGEMENT

90%

MICROSOFT OFFICE & GOOGLE SUITE

85%

AWARDS & ACCREDITATIONS

Fastest Team Win

Riot Rumble 2017



ICAgile Certified Professional (ICP)

Awarded 2016



Riot Games Manager Academy

Course completed 2016



Winner: Best Film & TV Blog

Geek Ireland at the Irish Blog Awards 2016



Winner: Best Irish Comic Related Website/Blog

Geek Ireland at ICN 2015



Winner: Best Website

Geek Ireland at European Science Fiction Society 2015



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