Hannigan confirmed the news in a post on his LinkedIn page last night (27 October), having led the business since February 2017. He was previously senior vice president of the group.
Prior to his time at Allied Esports, Hannigan was vice president of overseas operations at Lianzhong Games and also spent time as Asia sales director for Target Fiber. He was also a director at WPT China and a manager for partnership development at the NYC Marketing Development Corporation.
“It’s been an incredible journey over the past seven years building this business from inception in China, to operations on three continents, to producing some of the most watched moments on Twitch, to a public listing on the Nasdaq, and diving into the emerging Web3 space with the creation of the EPICBEAST NFT community,” Hannigan said on LinkedIn.
“As an entrepreneur, it’s surreal taking an idea from a collection of PPT slides in my bedroom in Beijing to a bell ringing ceremony at the Nasdaq in Times Square.
“The best part of the countless lessons learned and the tremendous achievements along the way has been doing it alongside the many wonderful and highly talented individuals who’ve played a critical role in the Allied Esports story throughout the years for whom I am forever grateful.”
While serving as CEO of Allied Esports, Hannigan was also managing director of Big Turn International, a role he has been in since January 2007 and continues to hold.
“Creating and operating the world’s most dynamic physical assets in esports, debuting the first esports truck, building a beacon for gaming and content creation in the heart of the entertainment capital of the world on the Las Vegas Strip, and earning the trust and respect of the gaming industry, our incredible partners and of course the many communities of players, viewers, followers and EPICBEAST NFT holders around the world have been sources of both pride and motivation every step along the way,” he continued.
“I’ve been blessed to be able to steer this ship through both difficult and gratifying times and it’s been an honour building and leading this team, who I’m confident will continue to build on our success thus far.”