University of New Haven Welcomes New Director for its Groundbreaking M.S. Esports Business Program

Jonathan Stringfield, Ph.D., a gaming industry expert, has been selected to lead the only online master’s degree program in esports business in the country.

September 26, 2022

The University of New Haven announced today that Jonathan Stringfield, Ph.D., an executive with a leading esports gaming company, has been named director of its innovative M.S. in Esports Business program, the first and only such online program in the field.

Dr. Stringfield is the vice president for global business research and marketing at Activision Blizzard and previously held leadership positions at Twitter, Facebook, and The Nielsen Company. He has taught at the university for the last year, during which he developed a class curriculum that combines classical marketing, marketing science, and sports marketing.

“Dr. Stringfield is a recognized and accomplished leader in esports and gaming, which is one of the world’s fasting-growing industries,” said Brian Kench, Ph.D., dean of the university’s Pompea College of Business. “In teaching only a small number of classes, he quickly demonstrated a keen ability to help students develop a competitive advantage through a custom-designed curriculum that prepares them to be leaders in the esports industry. We are excited about the impact he will have across our Esports and Gaming programs.”

“The esports industry is in the midst of significant change, and, with it, students have opportunities to bring their passion, knowledge, and skills to building the industry in exciting directions,” added Dr. Stringfield “I’m most excited by the potential to create high-quality educational experiences that blend practical business skills with the specifics of the gaming and esports business in order to continue to place students within impactful roles in the burgeoning gaming and esports industries.”

Dr. Stringfield has spent nearly 20 years as a research and marketing executive specializing in technology. He is widely published and a sought-after speaker on topics ranging from ad-tech, marketing science, and consumer psychology.

Dr. Stringfield recently wrote and published Get in the Game: How to Level Up Your Business with Gaming, Esports, and Emerging Technologies, a book and roadmap to understanding and navigating marketing and business integrations into the gaming ecosystem. He earned his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Illinois at Chicago, master’s in sociology from DePaul University, and a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

The University also offers the only esports management concentration that is part of a business curriculum accredited by AACSB International and an interdisciplinary Esports and Gaming major that features academic collaborations with leading gaming entities.