OverActive Media, the parent company of MAD Lions, Toronto Ultra and Toronto Defiant, has announced leadership changes for its Spain-based esport organisation.
The changes see Ricardo Gómez-Acebo Botín be appointed as the new Head of EU Business. Moreover, OverActive Media’s Vice-President of Strategy Jorge Schnura has resigned from his position and will continue in an advisory role within the company.
Botín’s role now involves being a ‘conduit’ for the finance and human resources department across the Atlantic in Canada. Moreover, he will be responsible for integrating MAD Lions into Overactive Media’s global business structure.
He has worked with Schnura for the past four years, most recently as the organisation’s Head of Business Operations in Europe. Additionally, Botín helped lead the sale of the MAD Lions to OverActive in 2019.
OverActive Media, which posted a loss of $15.4 million in 2021, owns a wide variety of esports teams, including franchise slots in Blizzard’s Call of Duty and Overwatch League, as well as Riot Games’ LEC. The company most recently expanded its partnership with Canadian banking and financial services company TD Bank Group.
Schnura was a founding member of MAD Lions in 2017 before its acquisition. He led efforts to restructure and rebrand the organisation, which included absorbing the Splyce LEC team into the MAD Lions brand. Moreover, Schnura established a high-performance centre in Madrid, Spain. His exit from MAD Lions’ leadership team will officially occur at the end of July.
In the press release, Schnura stated that while he had made the decision to move on, he was still invested in MAD’s success. Moreover, he expressed his excitement to have Botín as the organisation’s new leader.
Speaking about the leadership change, Chris Overholt, President and CEO of OverActive Media, stated: “Jorge’s entrepreneurial spirit has been a key part of our progression and growth in the European market.
“While it’s always tough to see talented people move on from your organisation, we certainly wish Jorge well and celebrate our shared success.”
