
Nintendo of America seems to be getting their new Bay Area office up to staff. Today the company announced that they appointed two sales and marketing execs to their Redwood City offices.
Denise Kaigler will be Nintendo of America's new vice president of marketing and corporate affairs, a position formerly held by Perrin Kaplan, while Bill Van Zyll will be the new director and general manager of Latin America.
"Denise and Bill bring a wealth of branding and marketing experience to our team," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "Their expertise will help us keep Nintendo's momentum going strong throughout 2008 and beyond."
Hit the jump for the run down of Kaigler and Van Zyll's background.
Kaigler comes to Nintendo following a 16-year tenure at Reebok International, where she serves as head of Global Corporate Communications and Corporate Citizenship. She also serves as head of Corporate Communications in the United States for the adidas Group, the parent company of Reebok.Van Zyll heads Nintendo of America's Latin America department, which is responsible for the creation, direction and implementation of short- and long-term sales, marketing, and operational strategies for Latin America. He comes to Nintendo of America after more than 15 years at the Whirlpool Corporation, where for the past four years he has served as Director of Finance for Sales for the company's North American region.
So washing machines and sports apparel, got it.







Comments
The guy has a rough road ahead when you can identify the position of his predecessor by her name.
@jayntampa: I amend that his to a her ... the 2nd graph identified the person as "Denis," so I thought it was a guy :D
Everyone always brings a wealth of something... Usually it ends up being posturing and BSing... :)
An African American woman in the position. I'm beaming with pride - perhaps she can be eventually be vocal over the position of African American stereotypes in gaming.
Or, perhaps I'm overstating her value...
I hope she's as batshit insane as Perrin was.
Omarosa got a job.
I wish her luck on her new job. Hopefully she will ensuGOLDENEYE ON VC AND XBLA!!!!
@Phoenicks:
<--- trying to think if there are any African Americans in games put out by Nintendo... Nope, only Italian stereotypes...
Nintendo will take over the world!!!!!!!!!.
@SithNinja:
Yeah, you are right. Italian stereotypes are rampant in Nintendo's world! Why do Italians have to be plumbers and like pasta!? =P
@Phoenicks
Thank you for saying that.....I personally am tired of the Birdee's, Coltrane's and Zach's (although I do love kicking ass with him in DOA4). We represent a very large part of the buying public in the states, but we have routinely been insulted over the years with these joke characters. I'm hard pressed in coming up with one character that has been acceptable or not representative of some "Black" stereotype.
The only black Nintendo character I can think of right now is Devdan/Danved from Fire Emblem... And he was a nice, jolly fellow at least.
Also this Denise is much better looking than Omarosa IMHO.
I just found this little biography of Denise. She was quite a fighter, so I think she'll do well in her new position (hopefully.)
[www.blacksportsnetwork.com]
@GameraTheGreat: Unreal 2? I cant remember much, but he seemed a normal guy...
Maybe that was why it failed in sales...
@GameraTheGreat: There have been a few, just not always in huge games ... for example, Michael Edwards was a playable character in Eternal Darkness ... he was a firefighter and heroic, if my memory serves me right. I'm sure some others can think of more.
I agree, there should be more ... by the way, I have different Gamera figures all over my condo :D
@Masterofpastures
I remember something about his being a corporate athlete of sorts in their games of death......close, but I really can't remember a character that I could identify with....Unreal has never been too big on making you care about their characters backgrounds and that may have some to do with why the details are fuzzy for both of us.
I live in Latin America, Guatemala to be more precise, and honestly I've never heard of Nintendo doing any kind of promotions or anything of te sort in the region of Latin America where I live
Wasn't Gordon Freeman's good friend Eli Vance a brilliant scientist? He was black, too.
Well I wish her all the best, that's a helluva job to land
Head of Global Corporate Communications and Corporate Citizenship? Am I cynnical for wondering if they hired someone who has experience with responding to organizations like Greenpeace?
I had a crush on Perrin...
And still do :(
@Jayntampa
Nice! I have loved Gamera since childhood and preferred him over Godzilla! He's (IMO) much more powerful and has a soft spot for kids (kinda weird and funny).....I think Toho owns the license and may be sitting on DVD mass production of the recent flicks to ensure Godzilla's dominance (just some fanboy rage there).
I'm sure there have been a handful, but in comparison to the negative images....they are far outnumbered. I have enjoyed games in spite of this fact, but like Phoenicks....I want more representation of "normal" African descendants.
@Nintenboy01: Don't forget Grimm from the Advance Wars games.
One thing I've noticed though - almost all genius black guys you see in games resemble Morgan Freeman. Pimps and criminals kinda look like Snoop Dogg or some generic rapper. They oughta mix things up a bit maybe.
@GameraTheGreat: Yeah, I have him with a giant Gyaos ... plus a few others. I agree, he could take Godzilla ;)
@Jayntampa
Haha! Gyaos! Sweet! Do you remeber the Gamera that showed up in Godzilla? He had a weird laugh-roar and bumps all over his body!
I can't decide whether or not I should just inherently not believe anything Denise says. It was so easy with Perrin because she was able to lie through her teeth so much, but having no experience with Denise I feel lost...
@MissingNo:
Me too. There was something about her that made my Wii happy.
Yes, but will she make out with Matt from IGN?
@skrame:
Grimm wasn't black(he sure don't look it to me) but Hawke was definatly one.
@Nintenboy01: Alyx is half black and stands as the only black female lead in a videogame.
Now if we can only wipe the shame that is Barret and Jax from our minds.
@Evin: Hahahaha!!!
Evin - you read my mind. I was going to ask if she realized that snuggling up with Matt Kassmisina comes with the position. lol.
I'm black and at this point, I'm just hoping Nintendo makes any original characters that don't look like Miis at all - black, caucasian -- whatever! Just get some original IPs out -- please.
She looks like a more human version of Condoleezza Rice, sorry for the insult lady, its not intentional its just your haircut and your smile...
Kaigler's first test should be to see if she can come up with a parallel more asinine and insulting than Kaplan's "fridge" comparison.
Second test? Say something untrue that gets Nintendo fans excited.
@Nintenboy01: Ganondorf?
Last worked for Reebok? Yeesh. Sweatshops, etc.
@carlosrodas: I agree. I've been in various parts of Central America numerous times and heard nothing from Nintendo.
I still like Barret, even if people see him as a "stereotype." It was just cool to see a black character in an RPG, one of the many reasons I loved FFVII.
I think my favorite woman of color in games is the lead character from Beyond Good and Evil.
I'm glad that seeing a non-white person in a high ranking position is less of a surprise for me. It would be cooler if she was an actual game developer or something, though. I couldn't name you one game developer who's African-American. I know they're out there, but none of note.
The only people who who could possibly give a damn about who Nintendo hired to feed you press releases and give you no-comment comments is your staff...not the readers. If you're going to fellatiate the new press hacks, do it where we can't see. It's embarrassing for both of us.
Not trolling but what does normal african descent mean? We are the most mixed on the planet.
@Hykewne
Heh....normal African decedents = normal "black" man. IMO "Black" does not accurately depict me nor my culture of origin and that is why I use African descendants. Black is a color devoid of any cultural meaning....well, there is a meaning and a connotation....but I don't subscribe to that.
Yes, African Americans as with many other African descendants outside of the content are quite mixed, but that does not erase our culture. Are we the "most" mixed? I'm not certain whether that is true.....I think a number Eastern European cultures have longer history of cultural diversity than even we do.
Don't apply my views to yourself if you feel that they are not appropriate or offensive. There are many "Black" people that I diverge from in belief and self concept. My reason for posting was to express that I have not been happy with the way my culture has been portrayed in video games and I know that is the end result of a greater societal context.....but, I would like to believe that the gaming community would be a bit more progressive. Oh well.....I guess not.
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