Has Scott's replacement been announced?

[Piratecat]

Brand Director is different than Scott's job as Brand Manager; it looks like Liz has been Brand director for at least two years. I've seen no sign that Scott was fired, as he's seemed pretty happy with life and hasn't given any indication that his departure was acrimonious.

I believe that the assistant Brand Manager position was Sara Girard's; Linae (lurkinglidda) left WotC some time back.

If they haven't announced anyone by the end of the week, I'll ping my WotC PR buddy.

 

[jmucchiello]

I don't think there's any requirement for WotC to announce the change of brand manager. That's not really the general public's business. A far better question is "has the brand manager announced himself/herself here?" This is relevant to ENWorld as the last couple brand managers have had a presence here and knowing that will or will not continue is important (to ENWorld).

 

[Hadrian the Builder]

It's kinda odd. Normally a big company like WotC should have a new Brand Manager ready if the old one quits. I mean, usually you give some warning in these things, right? (As in that's what we do in my country)

The US custom is two-weeks notice for employees to employers. Obviously, the deviation from expected behavior varies by individual circumstances and corporate policies.

As far as having a new Brand Manager ready to go, At the very least, if Scott had any subordinates, I expect one of them has been picked to work as "acting head" until the Rouse's replacement is hired.

 

[CharlesRyan]

Brand Director is different than Scott's job as Brand Manager; it looks like Liz has been Brand director for at least two years.

At WotC, as at most US companies, a Director is someone who sits between the manager level and the VP level. Liz Schuh was Scott's boss; before that she was my boss.

A job search on the WotC site shows "Associate Brand Manager for Dungeons and Dragons" as an opening

This is not in reference to Scott's position (note also that that listing has been up since early August); I think this is the position that used to be held by Sara Girard. An Associate Brand Manager is one step below Brand Manager in most brand management hierarchies.

 

[Scribble]

If WotC has no replacement ready, it could indicate one of those two things happenings. It could of course mean a lot of other things as well, including WotC not being able to find a suitable replacement, him/her being to busy etc.

I think deciding it meant the first two is jumping to conclusions when there are no other indications they are true.

I know in my own company we are down a number of people in my department. The people all left amicably with the standard 2 weeks notice etc, but we just haven't found anyone to fill the spot due to various reasons.

Also don't forget it's October. They might not actually hire anyone until next year because the budget hasn't yet been approved for this quarter.

Businesses don't always (and almost rarely in my experience) have someone lined up to replace a leaving person.

Right now, probably the director is now forced to be both director and manager, dolling out as much as possible to the associate managers.

(So they're probably all happy for Scott, and cursing his name at the same time! )

As far as being our business, well - part of Scott's job was interacting with us, he said as much. So yeah, I am making it my business, since it will possibly affect the communication I have with my favorite RPG-company.

My guess is when the time comes, the order of announcement will be along the lines of:

Internal (Aka Scott's team, and the people he worked with on a daily basis)
Internal, interdepartmental (aka the other Hasbro companies)
external, business associates (aka Jones soda and such.)
external, everyone else (aka us)

Although we'll probably already know by the time the "official" announcement reaches us.

 

[Mark]

I think this is the position that used to be held by Sara Girard. An Associate Brand Manager is one step below Brand Manager in most brand management hierarchies.

Where is Sara Girard?

 

[Alt F4]

For comparison's sake, when WotC's Star Wars brand manager left, it was a week between when she posted her goodbye message to the Wizards forums and when her replacement posted his hello message.

Of course they probably have the luxury of taking more time with D&D, since with D&D they don't have to keep a licensor happy all the time.

 

[Piratecat]

Where is Sara Girard?

She departed WotC a few weeks before GenCon. I think she's working at Microsoft now, but don't quote me on that.

 

[Mark]

She departed WotC a few weeks before GenCon. I think she's working at Microsoft now, but don't quote me on that.

Good for her. Hopefully Scott has a similar story to share soon.

 

[Scribble]

Good for her. Hopefully Scott has a similar story to share soon.

He said not to quote him and there you are quoting him in the very next post...


Microsoft: "Are you comfortable working in an environment where all of your customers constantly attack everything you do no matter how well done it is, or how much it would be loved if released by another company?"

Sara: "I worked on the D&D brand."

Microsoft: "HIRED!"