Humam Sakhnini | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1968 Nazareth, Israel |
| Education | |
| Occupation | Business executive |
| Employer | Discord |
| Known for | Chief executive of Discord; former president of King Digital Entertainment |
| Title | Chief Executive Officer |
| Term | 2025–present |
Humam Sakhnini (born September 1968 [1] ) is a management consultant, financial technology entrepreneur, and technology and video game industry executive, who has served as the chief executive officer of Discord since April 2025. He was previously a partner at McKinsey & Company, and held senior roles at Activision Blizzard and its subsidiary King Digital Entertainment, including president of King and, later, vice chairman at Activision Blizzard. [2] [3] [4]
Sakhnini was born into an Arab Christian family in Nazareth, Israel. [5] He spent a part of his teenage years in Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War. [6]
He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in economics from the University of Western Ontario in Canada before receiving a Master of Arts (MA) in economics from Queen's University at Kingston in 1992. He earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the Yale School of Management in 2001. [7] [8] [9] [10]
Sakhnini initially worked for the investment bank Nesbitt Burns and for the Department of Finance Canada. [8] [7] He participated in the 28th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Economics Association in Calgary in June 1994, [11] and authored three of Department of Finance's Fiscal Policy and Economic Analysis Branch working papers in 1995. [11] [12] [13] In one of these papers, written jointly with Steven James and Chris Matier, he argued in favour of pre-funded pension plans for the baby boomer generation as a source of investment and economic growth, siding with the World Bank in the debate over the future of the Canada Pension Plan. [14]
He later founded and co-directed the financial technology firm ISGroup, which provided services to mutual funds and hedge funds. [7]
In the 2000s, he spent eight years as a partner (or associate principal [15] ) at McKinsey & Company advising media and technology executives. [16] [9]
He joined Activision Blizzard in July 2009 as executive vice president for corporate strategy and business development, and in February 2012 became the company's chief strategy and talent officer. [7] [17] He later served as a vice chairman at Activision Blizzard, overseeing a portfolio that included franchises such as Call of Duty , World of Warcraft , and Candy Crush . [18]
Sakhnini joined the London-based King in April 2016 as chief financial officer and chief strategy officer after leading its acquisition by Activision Blizzard. [19] In January 2019, he was appointed president of the company, overseeing operational management of King's mobile game portfolio including Candy Crush Saga. [20] In February 2022, King announced that Tjodolf Sommestad would succeed Sakhnini as president [21] and Sakhnini would return to the United States. [22] Sakhnini subsequently helped Bobby Kotick oversee Activision Blizzard at the time of its acquisition by Microsoft and left the company not long after the process was completed in October 2023. [23]
On 23 April 2025, Discord announced that Sakhnini would become chief executive officer as co-founder Jason Citron transitioned to a board role and CEO advisor. The company stated that the leadership change would help it scale and prepare for future opportunities. [24] Discord said the transition would take effect on 28 April 2025. [25] Technology outlets including Bloomberg News and TechCrunch reported the appointment, noting Sakhnini's prior roles at Activision Blizzard and King. [26] [27] Citron simultaneously published a message to employees about “passing the torch.” [28]
Sakhnini was among the donors who contributed between $100,000–$250,000 to the Yale School of Management in the 2020/2021 academic year. [29] He has served on the Center for Customer Insights Board of Advisors at Yale SOM. [30] He was also named as a regular sponsor ("sustainer") by the Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization Alliance for Children's Rights, [31] and as a donor (alongside Activision) by the Los Angeles-based disaster response NGO Team Rubicon in 2015 as it focused its relief effort on the April 2015 Nepal earthquake. [32]