More moves at Nintendo
Beth Llewelyn, senior director of corporate communications at Nintendo of America, is leaving the video game company today. News of her departure comes just weeks after George Harrison, Nintendo’s SVP of marketing and corporate communication, announced he would be leaving the company at the end of the year.
Llewelyn, who worked at Nintendo for about 12 years, said the company’s plans to relocate its sales and marketing functions from the Seattle area to New York and Silicon Valley is a major factor in the string of departures. The company has yet to announce replacements.
“I would not call this a shuffling or a shake-up or anything like that,” Llewelyn said. “It’s just a relocation, and some individuals chose not to go with the company. But everything is moving forward, everybody is leaving on good terms.”
The company wanted a stronger presence in the Bay Area’s tech market and New York’s media scene, Llewelyn said. Nintendo’s headquarters will remain in Redmond, WA.
“But quite a few are staying with the company,” she said. “It just happened that a couple of the names that people know tend to be the spokespeople for the company, [and they] happen to be moving on.”
Perrin Kaplan, VP of corporate affairs at Nintendo, has not officially announced leaving the company but Nintendo has posted an opening for her position on its Web site.
Additionally, Julia Roether, media director at Nintendo’s AOR Golin Harris and a key member of the account team, left the agency on Tuesday, said Alison Holt Brummelkamp, SVP at Golin.
“It’s pure coincidence,” Brummelkamp said, when asked whether Roether ’s departure is related to Nintendo’s in-house turnover. “People were putting those two things together but they are really not related.”
Roether left Golin for an opportunity at another agency, she added. Golin has 25 employees working on the Nintendo account, and has worked with the company for 15 years.
