George Harrison (executive)

Not to be confused with George Harrison.

George Harrison was the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communication at Nintendo of America when he left at the end of December 2007.

Education

Harrison holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Connecticut in finance and holds a master's degree in marketing from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Career

Pepsi Co.

Harrison was a director of marketing for Pepsi USA and Pepsi Bottling Groups's southern U.S. division.

Quaker Oats

Before joining Nintendo, George Harrison worked for Quaker Oats, and directed two new ventures.

Nintendo of America

George Harrison oversaw retail merchandising, publications, advertising, corporate communications and promotions at Nintendo of America. Harrison joined the company in March 1992 as Director of Advertising and Promotions. In July 1993, Harrison was promoted to the position of Director of Marketing and Corporate Communications. Harrison's most recent promotion was in 2001.

In June 2007 he was rumored to have resigned, most likely due to not wanting to move his family from Washington to San Francisco or New York, where Nintendo is moving their marketing branches in July. However, Nintendo responded on June 8 to this rumor as nothing more but 'speculation' and has refused to comment further since. In a recent E3 interview with Harrison, online site GameDaily BIZ questioned whether or not the rumor was true. In response, Harrison stated that while he would prefer "not answering", he is "involved in making the transition happen because Reggie's the President and will stay in Redmond, and we're getting underway with a big recruiting effort because, not surprisingly, a variety of people are not going to make the move. So in September I'll be working long and hard in San Francisco opening the office and hopefully welcoming and orienting new employees."

On September 14, 2007, Harrison confirmed the rumors to Reuters via telephone, saying "I have confirmed to all employees that I will be leaving at the end of December and not making the move to California".

References

• Kohler, Chris (May 28, 2007). "Interview: NOA’s George Harrison On the Future of Wii". Wired.com. http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2007/05/interview_noas_/. Retrieved December 12, 2011. 
• "Consumers not ready for online gaming – Nintendo". The Register. July 7, 2003. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/07/07/consumers_not_ready_for_online/. Retrieved December 12, 2011.