Anna Baumann, the Executive Vice President of Esports at metaverse company Infinite Reality, has announced that she will step down from her role at the end of November.
Known for being an instrumental figure in the growth of the Rogue esports brand, Baumann joined the organisation in 2018 as its Managing Director. In 2020, she was appointed Executive Vice President of Esports at ReKTGlobal, Rogue’s parent company, and later held the same position at Infinite Reality after its acquisition of ReKTGlobal.
During her time at ReKTGlobal and Infinite Reality, she was tasked with managing the strategy for esports organisations Rogue and London Royal Ravens, two main divisions under the ReKTGlobal umbrella.
Baumann worked at the company through several periods of development and changes to its esports operations, including ReKTGlobal being acquired by Infinite Reality in 2022. Shortly after that, KOI and Rogue entered an agreement which allowed KOI to enter the LEC, thus temporarily retiring the Rogue brand.
Baumann was also a speaker at the recently concluded ESI London 2023, where she talked about player compensation and salary regulations facing League of Legends esports in 2024, among other things.
In a statement made by Baumann on Linkedin, she did not share any details regarding future plans.
The news of Baumann’s departure comes just a day after Infinite Reality and KOI announced a split, leaving KOI with ownership of its VALORANT, FIFAe and League of Legends LVP Superliga teams, and ReKTGlobal with the LEC slot and its Call of Duty League franchise.
In a social media post, Baumann shared that she is extremely proud that a 50-50 gender split was achieved across the support staff, and said that winning the LEC finals in Malmö in 2022 was her proudest moment in the five years at ReKTGlobal and Infinite Reality. Baumann praised the Rogue and KOI communities, players and expressed gratitude for her time at the company.
Baumann said: “For five years, I have been fortunate enough to lead Rogue and later KOI as the first female team principal in esports.
“I had no idea how humbling, transformative, and rewarding this journey would be. I am very grateful to Dave Bialek and Amish Shah who took a chance on me in 2018.”
