Jon Grande

Current

President and COO at Digini
Advisor at PlaySpan (http://PlaySpan.com)
Co-Founder/Owner at Etherplay

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Past

Advisor at FigurePrints (http://FigurePrints.com)
Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs at Sigil Games Online
Lead Product Planner at Microsoft Game Studios

Co-Founder and Product Planner at Microsoft's MSN Gaming Zone
Director (Board of Directors) at Interactive Visual Systems dba DWANGO
Product Planner at Microsoft
International Product Manager at Microsoft

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4 more...

Education

Pacific Lutheran University
Redmond High School

Recommended

8 people have recommended Jon

Connections

500+ connections

Industry

Computer Software

Websites

Jon Grande’s Summary

- Highly successful management track record at both the project and studio level.

- Experienced at leading product definition and project management processes; reconciling business realities with the creative requirements of entertainment software development.

- Experience managing organizations from genesis through maturity, managing through significant change, as well as managing and mentoring individual personnel.

- Experience managing win/win developer/publisher relationships and extensive deal negotiations experience, from both sides of the table.

Jon Grande’s Specialties:

- Product vision and definition
- Project management
- P&L management
- Deal structures and contract negotiations
- Team leadership and management

Jon Grande’s Experience

President and COO

Digini

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Software industry)

January 2008 — Present (11 months)

Digni is the creator of Blade3D - the first fully integrated 3D game development system built on top of Microsoft's XNA platform. Blade3D is designed to be powerful, yet accessible for everyone from students to hobbyists to full development studios.
Advisor

PlaySpan (http://PlaySpan.com)

(Privately Held; Entertainment industry)

2007 — Present (1 year)
Co-Founder/Owner

Etherplay

(Privately Held; Computer Games industry)

November 2006 — Present (2 years 1 month)
Advisor

FigurePrints (http://FigurePrints.com)

(Entertainment industry)

2007 — 2007 (less than a year)
Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs

Sigil Games Online

(Public Company; 51-200 employees; Computer Games industry)

June 2005 — November 2006 (1 year 6 months)

Responsible for strategic planning and Sigil's overall P&L; oversees marketing, PR & legal affairs; and manages Sigil's relationships with key publishing and licensing partners (Sony, Microsoft, etc).
Lead Product Planner

Microsoft Game Studios

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; msft; Computer Games industry)

January 2000 — June 2005 (5 years 6 months)

Managed strategic planning for a portion of Microsoft Game Studios external publishing portfolio and owned development relationships with several of Microsoft's top partners including BioWare, Gas Powered Games, Sigil Games and Marvel. Responsibilites included strategic planning, deal negotiations, P&L management, and extensive interaction with internal and external development personnel.
Co-Founder and Product Planner

Microsoft's MSN Gaming Zone

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; MSFT; Computer Games industry)

January 1996 — December 1999 (4 years)

Co-founded the organization within Microsoft that evolved into the MSN Gaming Zone. Wrote the proposal that secured resources from Executive Management, developed the business and product strategy, negotiated development deals and worked with Program Management to manade development relationships.
Director (Board of Directors)

Interactive Visual Systems dba DWANGO

(Entertainment industry)

1997 — 1998 (1 year)

IVS (dba DWANGO) was a low-latency gaming service who partnered with the MSN Gaming Zone. DWANGO operated servers and provided low latency gaming in key North American markets as a strategic partner for Microsoft in the burgeoning online gaming market.

I served as an independent director, balancing out venture/investors and founders on the IVS Board.
Product Planner

Microsoft

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; msft; Computer Games industry)

January 1994 — December 1995 (2 years)

Managed product planning for Microsoft's early Windows game titles - including Microsoft Arcade, Microsoft Golf, Close Combat (War Game of the Year from PC Gamer), and Microsoft Flight Simulator 5.1,
International Product Manager

Microsoft

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; msft; Computer Games industry)

June 1992 — December 1993 (1 year 7 months)

Managed international marketing for Microsoft Works and Microsoft's early game portfolio (Flight Sim, Microsoft Golf, etc). Developed worlwide marketing strategies and managed local market execution with Microsoft subsidiaries in Europe, Latin America, and Asia.

Jon Grande’s Education

Pacific Lutheran University

BA, Political Science, Business, September 1988 — May 1992

Cum Laude, Political Science Major, Business Minor, 4 year intern at Microsoft (1988-1991).

Activities and Societies:

Varsity Crew, Residence Hall staff, Alumni Board.
Redmond High School

1985 — 1988

Additional Information

Jon Grande’s Websites:

Jon Grande’s Interests:

Personal Interests: games (primarily RPGs and MMOs), outdoor sports (skiing, fly fishing, mountain biking, sailing, golf), technology, music, reading & digital entertainment in general. Professional Interests: finding the "fun" in games, software development and project management methodologies, and the "business" side of games (funding, publishing relationships, etc).

Jon Grande’s Groups:

Board of Directors (2001-2003) "The Invitational" golf tournament and charity auction, in support of Children's Hospital. Sponsored by Merrill Lynch, Microsoft, and several PGA stars including Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, John Daly, Corey Pavin and Ben Crenshaw., The Funded, The Game Industry