Humam Sakhnini | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1968 (age 57–58) |
| 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 spent a part of his teenage years in Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War. [5]
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. [6] [7] [8] [9]
Sakhnini initially worked for the investment bank Nesbitt Burns and for the Department of Finance Canada. [7] [6] He participated in the 28th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Economics Association in Calgary in June 1994, [10] and authored three of Department of Finance's Fiscal Policy and Economic Analysis Branch working papers in 1995. [10] [11] [12] In one of these papers, written jointly with Steven James and Chris Matier, he argued in favor 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. [13]
He later founded and co-directed the financial technology firm ISGroup, which provided services to mutual funds and hedge funds. [6]
In the 2000s, he spent eight years as a partner (or associate principal [14] ) at McKinsey & Company advising media and technology executives. [15] [8]
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. [6] [16] 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 . [3]
Sakhnini joined the London-based King in April 2016 as chief financial officer and chief strategy officer after leading its acquisition by Activision Blizzard. [17] In January 2019, he was appointed president of the company, overseeing operational management of King's mobile game portfolio including Candy Crush Saga. [18] In February 2022, King announced that Tjodolf Sommestad would succeed Sakhnini as president [4] and Sakhnini would return to the United States. [19] 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. [20]
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. [2] Discord said the transition would take effect on 28 April 2025. [21] Technology outlets including Bloomberg News and TechCrunch reported the appointment, noting Sakhnini's prior roles at Activision Blizzard and King. [3] [22] Citron simultaneously published a message to employees about “passing the torch.” [23] On September 22nd, 2025, Sakhnini was sent a letter from the United States House Committee on Homeland Security asking him to provide a written testimony for a hearing to examine "the radicalization of online forum users" following the assassination of Charlie Kirk. [24] [25] [26]
Sakhnini was among the donors who contributed between $100,000–$250,000 to the Yale School of Management in the 2020/2021 academic year. [27] He has served on the Center for Customer Insights Board of Advisors at Yale SOM. [28] He was also named as a regular sponsor ("sustainer") by the Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization Alliance for Children's Rights, [29] 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. [30]
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