Sony Network Entertainment prez Tim Schaaff retires, will remain on board of directors
Tim Schaaff came over to Sony from Apple back in 2005 with a mission of aligning its vast consumer electronics and entertainment interests, and today the company has announced he's retiring from his post as Sony Network Entertainment President at the end of the year. Schaaf's responsibilities will be taken over by current Sony Computer Entertainment president Andrew House to start 2013, although Schaaf will retain his seat on Sony Network's board of directors. In place and SNEI prez since 2010, he was around for the infamous PSN hack and subsequent outage in 2011, calling it a "great experience"... that he would not like to do again, of course. While Sony has made great strides in reorganizing the way its disparate arms work together since '05 (remember Sony Connect? No one else does either.) his departure comes amidst new company head Kaz Hirai's "One Sony" turnaround efforts along the same lines. A rebranding of PlayStation Network to Sony Entertainment Network hasn't pushed the Music and Movie Unlimited properties to the top just yet, nor connected devices like its tablets and phones -- we'll see if this executive shuffling has any effect on the company's fortunes going forward.
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SONY NETWORK ENTERTAINMENT PRESIDENT AND GROUP EXECUTIVE OF
SONY CORPORATION TIM SCHAAFF RETIRES;
REMAINS ON SNEI BOARD OF DIRECTORS AS EXTERNAL DIRECTOR
Sony Corporation Group Executive Andrew House Assumes Responsibilities
(Tokyo, November 8, 2012) - Sony Corporation today announced that Tim Schaaff, President of Sony Network Entertainment International (SNEI) and Group Executive of Sony Corporation, will retire as of December 31, 2012. Schaaff will remain on the SNEI board of directors as an external director.
Effective January 1, 2013, Group Executive of Sony Corporation Andrew House will assume responsibilities for SNEI during the transition, in addition to his current role as President and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.(SCEI). The existing SNEI executive staff will manage daily operations.
Tim Schaaff joined Sony Corporation of America in December 2005 and has contributed greatly towards Sony's vision to create a network business that unifies Sony's network entertainment experience across all of its hardware products.
"Tim has been a strong leader within Sony who truly embodied the 'One Sony' spirit by successfully leading corporate-wide initiatives across business units since he joined," said Kazuo Hirai, President and CEO, Sony Corporation. "I thank Tim for his passion and innumerable contributions to the company."
"Under the leadership of Kaz, and Sir Howard Stringer before him, Sony gave me tremendous support to build a global team to coordinate and lead the company's network service business," said Tim Schaaff. "Together we created something of significant value that will be an important part of Sony's future. I'm grateful to have had this unique opportunity, proud of the commitment my team has demonstrated, and encouraged about Sony's prospects in this strategic area."
