Publishing leadership transition at asmodee: Carly McGinnis is appointed Chief Product Officer and EVP Publishing, succeeding Jean-Sébastien de Barros

Carly McGinnis brings more than 11 years of leadership experience spanning product, operations, and commercial strategy across the tabletop games industry. Carly is best known for her role at Exploding Kittens, part of asmodee, where she most recently served as CEO. She helped transform a single breakout Kickstarter success into a globally recognized games publisher, leading international expansion into more than 50 countries, overseeing localization into over 25 languages, and building strong relationships with retail and distribution partners across the US, Europe and the rest of the world. She also played a key role in developing the Exploding Kittens IP beyond tabletop games, including the landmark partnership with Netflix that brought the brand to mobile gaming and animation. Prior to Exploding Kittens, she worked across entertainment and technology at Xbox Entertainment Studios, WME and Brillstein Entertainment, building a foundation in content, talent, technology and IP that she later brought to the games industry.

Carly is widely recognized as one of the industry’s leading executives and was honored with the Creative Genius Award at the 2023 Women in Toys Wonder Women Awards. She has also been recognized by the Los Angeles Times as one of its Inspirational Women. Her unique combination of product vision, operational excellence, and deep understanding of global publishing ecosystems makes her exceptionally well positioned to lead the company’s product organization and strengthen collaboration between its world-class network of studios and asmodee’s distribution teams and retail partners.

After nearly a decade with asmodee across several key leadership roles, including most recently as Chief Product Officer, Jean-Sébastien de Barros will conclude his tenure with the company as he embarks on the next chapter of his career.

“I want to sincerely thank Jean-Sébastien de Barros for his instrumental leadership and contribution to asmodee over the years. As Chief Product Officer, he brought a strong strategic and structured approach to our product organization and built strong cross-functional teams along the way. With these elevated publishing capabilities of asmodee that Jean-Sébastien spearheaded, asmodee successfully launched its biggest Trading Card Game to date and broadly diversified its brand and IP portfolios - laying an important foundation for our next phase of growth. I wish him all the best in his next chapter,” said Thomas Kœgler, CEO of asmodee. “It is with great pride that I welcome Carly to the position of Chief Product Officer and EVP Publishing, reflecting the strength of the talent within our company. Her product vision, international experience and collaborative leadership will be invaluable as we strengthen our global portfolio and partnerships.”

“I’ve spent the last decade building Exploding Kittens from one game into a global business, and I’m excited to bring what I’ve learned to the broader asmodee portfolio,” said Carly McGinnis. “We have incredible games, studios and people around the world, and I see a huge opportunity to build on those strengths, creating great new games while investing in the brands and franchises with the potential to grow for decades. I’m grateful to Thomas and the team for the opportunity and excited to get started.”