Excel Esports chief people officer Joel Holmes-Darby has stepped down.
He co-founded the UK esports organisation with his brother Kieran back in 2014 and has seen it grow to become one of the prominent forces in UK esports.
Joel said on Twitter:
He added: “To those individuals with whom I shared those rollercoaster years with, thank you. I am blessed to have worked with so many talented and wonderful human beings in the time I spent working on the Excel project. Keep killing it.
“And lastly, a little shout out to my little bro Kieran. Doing this with you has been the best thing I ever did in life. Whilst I’m gutted it came to an end prematurely, I am dead proud of everything that we did and have complete and utter faith in your future success.”
Joel had a stint at Gfinity as esports franchise lead between late 2017 and 2018, before rejoining Excel as director of esports. He then transitioned to the chief people officer role at the start of 2020.
It’s not been made clear as to why Joel has left the organisation at this time. We’ve reached out and will update this article with any further information.
Excel CEO Wouter Sleijffers commented: “Excel has gone through an incredible journey over the last six years and so much has been achieved. We would not be where we are now without Joel’s leadership.
“As we embark on the next phase of Excel’s growth, we want to thank Joel for his continued support. We wish him all the best for the future.”
Excel Esports officially joined the League of Legends European Championship (LEC) in late 2018, after securing investment, elevating their status to the biggest UK-based organisation involved in League of Legends. Excel narrowly missed out on reaching the LEC playoffs back in August.
To Joel, thanks for helping put UK League of Legends on the map, and all the best for whatever’s next.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
