Campus On The Common

Director of Business Development and Strategic Intelligence for National Amusements and Executive-in-Residence at Emerson College, Kevin Mitchell discusses the meteoric rise of Esports around the world. From Fortnite and Overwatch to League of Legends and CS:GO, the burgeoning billion-dollar industry has earned the attention of spectators, players, advertisers, and even traditional sports franchises.

ABOUT OUR GUEST...

Kevin is an accomplished senior entertainment executive with a history of success in the entertainment, music, esports, gaming, film, online media, and theater industries. After working as an executive in the music industry, Mitchell transitioned into the immersive experiences sector to adapt to the paradigm shifts of a converged media landscape that blurred the lines between media, gaming, and technology.

The desire for convergence led Kevin to become an integral part of bringing esports and the business side of competitive gaming to the Boston business community and the classrooms at Emerson College. Previously, Kevin was Director of Business Development and Strategic Intelligence for National Amusement Corporation, the parent company of Viacom and CBS, until January of 2021. After becoming one of the first esports professors in the US, he founded an event and advisory company called College Esports Brands that launched the College Esports Expo in the US in 2017, Brazil in 2020, and India and Africa in 2022.

Mitchell provides esports and gaming consultation for Redbull, LG, Sony Music, Worldstar, Kraft Group, NFLPA, National Amusements (Viacom-CBS), the US Army Esports Program, Twitch, collegiate multi-media rights companies Launch Esports and Mainline. gg. Kevin is in the early stages of building the first Esports Venture Studio in the US.

Among publications where he has been quoted are Sports Illustrated, NY Times, Washington Post, ESPN.com, NBC.com, ABC.com, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Vibe Magazine, PBS, Fox25 Boston, and ABC affiliate WCVB.

Marketing Communication Executive-in-Residence, Mike McGuirk demystifies "Big Data" and explores how companies are leveraging analytics to better identify and act on customer insights.

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Executive-in-Residence McGuirk teaches courses that help students bridge the gap between the art and science of marketing. He brings 25+ years of experience helping Fortune 1000 clients identify customer insights that lead to highly successful data-driven sales, marketing and customer experience programs. Consistently recognized by clients and colleagues for his analytic thought leadership across a broad set of industries. He has led analytic consulting engagements at companies such as: General Motors, Harley Davidson, Dunkin Donuts, CVS Pharmacy, British Petroleum, McDonalds, OnStar, Extended Stay Hotels, Volvo, Cigna Insurance, Microsoft and many not-for-profit organizations. He has deep expertise in descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analytic techniques. He also has a proven track record of building and leading successful analytic consulting practices across multiple firms. He was most recently a Partner at iKnowtion (acquired by TTEC) and has led analytic consulting teams at Epsilon and multiple start-ups. He is passionate about analytics and evangelizing the adoption of analytic principles at progressive, customer-centric organizations.

Boston is a sports town, and Emerson College students can take advantage of the success of Boston's sports teams through the School of Communication's sports comm major and minor programs. To learn more about Boston's most recent sports success, and how Emerson programs are preparing the next generation of sports broadcasters and leaders, Campus On The Common spoke with Department of Communication Studies Assistant Professor Michael Park.

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Michael Park, assistant professor, specializes in sports communication and communication law and policy. Park’s research interests center on mediated constructions of sports organizations and athletes on issues of identity, nationalism, masculinity, and diplomacy. He also examines how disruptions in communication technology implicate constitutional and free speech issues. His scholarship has appeared in nationally recognized communication and law journals, including Communication & Sport, Journal of Communication Inquiry, and the University of Colorado Law Review.

Park’s professional experience includes stints at William Morris Endeavor in Beverly Hills, and the Federal Communications Commission. He recently completed his doctorate at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California, and is also a graduate of the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.

For our inaugural episode, we begin a three part series on Reclaiming Conversation, a text chosen for first-year School of Communication students to better help them transition from high school to Emerson College. Joining host Chance Dorland is School of Communication Dean Raul Reis.

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Raul Reis is the Dean of the School of Communication at Emerson College, and a tenured professor in the Department of Communication Studies. Prior to Emerson, he served as Dean of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication (SJMC) at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, Florida, from 2011 to 2016.

Reis has published extensively in academic journals and books on topics such as the impact of mass media on traditional communities; Latin American and Brazilian media; higher education; and science, health and environmental communication. His academic articles have appeared in the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, Journal of Mass Media Ethics, Science Communication, World Communication Journal, Environmental Communication, and the Journal of Intercultural Communication, among others. He has co-authored a book titled "Mass Communication: Producers and Consumers" (2010), and another called "Writing and Reporting for Digital Media" (2015). Reis has contributed chapters to six edited academic books, and his research has been reprinted in specialized encyclopedias.

Previously to entering academia, Reis worked for many years as a newspaper, television and magazine reporter and editor for Brazilian and U.S. news organizations. As a journalist, he covered politics, sports, city news, and science and the environment, among other topics.