David Haddad, a Troy High School graduate, was recently named the President of Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment. Haddad received his BA in Business Administration and Marketing at Miami University and his MBA from Harvard’s School of Business. His promotion at Warner Bros. was announced on October 20th, 2015 by Diane Nelson, President of DC Entertainment, President and Chief Content Officer, WBIE, and President Warner Bros. Consumer Products, and Ron Sanders, President of Warner Bros.

According to Sanders, in an interview with Business Wire, “David has proven himself to be a leader who is equally adept at the creative and management sides of the games business. This promotion recognizes the many contributions he’s made toward WBIE’s record-breaking success this year, and we’re looking to him to continue the division’s momentum.”

With the holidays on the horizon and some losses at the box office this year, Warner Bros. hopes to see an exponential increase in sales. In an October 12th article titled “Warner Bros. Savior: Videogames” by the Wall Street Journal, Haddad said, “We really do feel this year is a culmination of a lot of the investments we have been doing for about a decade.” According to this same article, WBIE ranked #1 in videogames worldwide with $1.5 billion in sales. Top hits this year included “Batman: Arkham Knight” and fighting game “Mortal Kombat X,” each selling more that 5 million copies globally. Additionally, based on a film by competitor, Universal Pictures, “Lego Jurassic World” has sold approximately 4 million copies.

As the new President of WBIE, Haddad will report to Diane Nelson. “David’s expertise in all areas of the video game business has been instrumental in our continued growth and success,” Nelson said. “As we look to further our expansion in both mobile and digital, we’ll look to David to help us develop and implement winning strategies.”

Prior to his experience with Warner Bros., Haddad served as the COO of

Activision/Blizzard’s “Guitar Hero” and was in various other leadership positions at The Walt Disney Company, Mattel, and Sierra Online. He joined Warner Bros. in 2013 as Senior Vice President of Digital Publishing.

David Haddad is son to Arthur (“Ozzie”) and Gail Haddad of Troy. Ozzie was the Miami County Commissioner for many years and Gail was a nurse. Both are now retired but express tremendous pride at the accomplishment of their son. They remember when David began at WBIE and remarked that revenue in the division was less than 1% of the overall GDP of the company. They are in agreement with Nelson and Sanders that the shift in the company’s fortunes is as a direct result of their son’s involvement. According to Ozzie, “Small town boy makes good.”