John Needham

John Needham serves as President, Esports where he drives the overall vision for esports at Riot Games worldwide. In this role, John’s responsible for shaping and defining an accessible, modern sports entertainment property for a multi-generational fanbase while also creating a strong sustainable business ecosystem that attracts top-tier sponsors and investors. 

Under John’s leadership, Riot Games Esports has experienced rapid growth and maturation across several titles. From LoL Esports’ World Championship and Mid-Season Invitational hitting record viewership year after year to launching and expanding the VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) worldwide, John has led unprecedented growth of two major esports. More recently, he’s overseeing esports development of Riot’s emerging autobattler game TeamFight Tactics (TFT). 

Needham joined Riot in 2017 as the Managing Director of Europe and North America where he led the rebranding of the League of Legends European Championship (LEC), which included the move to a long-term partnership model with 10 teams and an influx of new partnerships including Kia, Logitech, Red Bull, and Foot Locker.  

Prior to Riot, John has held several leadership positions across Games & Entertainment including Microsoft, Cryptic Studios, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Telemundo, Gazillion Entertainment, and Sony Online Entertainment.