Activision Blizzard Appoints Kristen Hines as Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer

Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) today announced the appointment of Kristen Hines as its new Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer, effective Monday, April 25. Hines will report to Julie Hodges, Chief People Officer, and will join the company’s senior leadership team.

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Kristen Hines, Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer at Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Photo: Business Wire)

Hines joins Activision Blizzard from Accenture where she most recently led the Global Inclusion, Diversity and Equity practice, and sat on the firm’s global leadership team for the CEO Transformation practice. In that role, she helped organizations establish and strengthen their own DEI strategies and capabilities, ensuring success through integration with the business, data-driven accountability and continuous feedback loops between leaders and employees. She brings over two decades of experience across a variety of clients and industries, and has focused on large-scale enterprise and culture transformation, talent strategies, and mergers and acquisitions for clients across the Americas, Europe and Asia.

“I’m excited to join a company that is prioritizing its commitment to DEI and making progress on the ambitious goals it has set for itself. In an industry with historical underrepresentation, I’m looking forward to leading the company’s efforts to further build a workplace that values transparency, equity, and inclusivity,” said Kristen Hines. “Gaming has amazing potential to connect communities around the world and showcase heroes from all backgrounds. I am looking forward to playing a part in expanding the landscape of talent who brings these compelling experiences to a broad base of players.”

“Activision Blizzard has ambitious goals to become the most welcoming and inclusive company in the gaming industry. We have already made significant progress ensuring the safety and well-being of our employees, and we are excited to have Kristen join our leadership team to help drive even greater improvement,” said Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard. “Kristen’s success leading complex transformation with measurable results makes her the right person to ensure we deliver on our diversity, equity and inclusion commitments and build a model workplace aligned with our values.”

In this role, Hines will strengthen work underway with the company’s leadership team and its Employee Resource Groups to implement programs and policies that foster a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace environment. Hines will also partner across all gaming teams to ensure diverse and inclusive perspectives are included in game design, including storylines, character development, gameplay and community interaction.

Hines will play a crucial role in furthering Activision Blizzard’s commitment to increasing the percentage of women and non-binary people in its workforce by fifty percent over the next five years. More information on progress to date can be found on the Activision Blizzard website as of Q4 ‘21 and Q1 ‘22.

Prior to Accenture, Hines worked in corporate strategy for RSM Robson Rhodes, based in London, and investment banking for CIBC World Markets, based in New York. She received a BA in Political Science from the University of Michigan and an MBA from The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business.

About Activision Blizzard

Our mission, to connect and engage the world through epic entertainment, has never been more important. Through communities rooted in our video game franchises we enable hundreds of millions of people to experience joy, thrill and achievement. We enable social connections through the lens of fun, and we foster purpose and a sense of accomplishment through healthy competition. Like sport, but with greater accessibility, our players can find purpose and meaning through competitive gaming. Video games, unlike any other social or entertainment media, have the ability to break down the barriers that can inhibit tolerance and understanding. Celebrating differences is at the core of our culture and ensures we can create games for players of diverse backgrounds in the 190 countries our games are played.

As a member of the Fortune 500 and as a component company of the S&P 500, we have an extraordinary track record of delivering superior shareholder returns for over 30 years.

Our enduring franchises are some of the world’s most popular, including Call of Duty®, Crash Bandicoot™, Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, StarCraft®, Candy Crush™, Bubble Witch™, Pet Rescue™ and Farm Heroes™. Our sustained success has enabled the company to support corporate social responsibility initiatives that are directly tied to our franchises. As an example, our Call of Duty Endowment has helped find employment for over 90,000 veterans.

Learn more information about Activision Blizzard and how we connect and engage the world through epic entertainment on the company's website, www.activisionblizzard.com.

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This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We may, in some cases, use terms such as “predicts,” “believes,” “potential,” “proposed,” “continue,” “estimates,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “plans,” “intends,” “may,” “could,” “might,” “will,” “should” or other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to numerous important factors, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events or results to differ materially from the Company’s current expectations. These and other risks are described in the Company’s periodic reports, including the annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K, filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission and available at www.sec.gov. Any forward-looking statements that the Company makes in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release.

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