Esports tournament organiser and media network Blast, which has offices in the UK, has appointed Charlotte Kenny as Blast Premier managing director (MD).
She joins after seven years working in the world of football with British Premier League football club Arsenal FC, as well as strategic advisory groups Club Affairs and LTT Sports.
Blast said in a press release that Charlotte has a proven track record in ‘growing revenue streams, building cross-functional teams, doubling down on fan engagement and instilling a culture of high performance’.
She was head of fan services for Arsenal from 2014 to 2018, before being promoted to director of business development at the club.
Charlotte joins Blast from Switzerland-based company Club Affairs after working as a strategic advisor senior commercial consultant, where she consulted professional football businesses on commercial strategy and operations. She will retain her role as a non-executive board member at LTT Sports.
Her remit in the new role will entail her spearheading the growth and delivery of Blast Premier as the company looks to ‘maintain and enhance its industry-leading production, tournament operations, approach to fan engagement and commercial portfolio’.
The news comes two months after the Blast Premier dates, format and prize pool for 2022 were revealed.
“I am excited and truly honoured to take on this new role and lead the incredibly talented team at Blast Premier. I have been following the phenomenal growth of Blast over the last couple of years – they have established something really special and unique in the esports market.”
Charlotte Kenny, Blast Premier
Robbie Douek, CEO for Blast, said: “Charlotte is a brilliant addition to an already hugely talented team delivering Blast Premier. Since its launch in early 2020, Blast Premier has enjoyed tremendous growth and gone on to become one of the world’s leading Counter-Strike and esports events.
“We are entering an exciting period and targeting accelerated growth over the next two years – we believe Charlotte is the perfect person to lead these efforts in this newly created role.”
Charlotte Kenny, MD for Blast Premier, added: “I am excited and truly honoured to take on this new role and lead the incredibly talented team at Blast Premier. I have been following the phenomenal growth of Blast over the last couple of years – they have established something really special and unique in the esports market.
“This is an important and exciting time for Blast and esports generally. I look forward to playing my part in their future success.”
Over the last 18 months, Blast Premier, the company’s CSGO tournament circuit, has secured a range of long-term commercial partnerships with Coinbase, Betway and EPOS among others.
Last November saw Blast Premier’s long-awaited return to physical events with a record 25,000 fans attending the Fall Final in Copenhagen’s Royal Arena over three days.
Up to 32 of the world’s best teams take part in the seven Blast Premier events across the year with a combined prize pool of $2,475,000 on the line.
In other recent Blast-related news, Blast entered FIFA 22 esports with production of the 2021/22 ePremier League, and Blast will also deliver all Fortnite FNCS events in 2022.
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.
