IGDA names new executive director

Joshua Caulfield used to have a job fairly unrelated to the video game market, as an executive at an association that represents machine tool distributors. His connection with the game industry was low-key: In his spare time, Caulfield played World of Warcraft with his friends as a shadow priest. However, his involvement in the gaming world has increased dramatically, now that Caulfield has been named the executive director of the world's largest non-profit game developer organization.

Today, the International Game Developers Association revealed that Caulfield would be its new executive director, filling a seat that was vacated on March 31 by Jason Della Rocca. IGDA Chairman Bob Bates said that naming a game industry outsider was part of a move to change the role of the executive director position in order to better serve the association.

"The decision to hire someone from outside the games industry was not taken lightly, but when the board examined the challenges we face, we realized our key volunteers already have a wealth of industry knowledge, and what we needed was an experienced association professional to help us manage the organization to better serve the needs of our SIGs, chapters, and members worldwide," Bates said. “While the executive director role has traditionally been an outward-facing one, in the future, the chair will take on the spokesperson role to enable the executive director to focus on the critical tasks of running the association.”

Caulfield will preside over an association that has seen significant growth during Della Rocca's tenure. In Della Rocca's nine years as executive director, the IGDA amassed over 70 chapters worldwide, saw its membership rise from 500 to 15,000, and created the Studio Affiliation program, which allows developers from over 120 development houses to collaborate. Caulfield may have quite a job on his hands, if Della Rocca's scathing apology letter is an accurate account of the position's difficulty.

Previously, Caulfield was the executive vice president of the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association, the chief marketing officer for tech supply group Tech River, and the director of marketing at the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers' Institute.