SANTA MONICA, CA: Video game maker Activision Blizzard has hired Amazon’s former director of corporate communications Mary Osako as SVP of global communications.
Osako joined the company on September 8, replacing Maryanne Lataif, former SVP of corporate communications. She could not comment on why Lataif left the role or where she went.
Update: Activision said via email that Lataif "decided to tackle new frontiers" after working on the launch of various games and having "built the Activision PR team on both the corporate and consumer sides of the business" in the past two decades.
Reporting to Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, Osako oversees global communications for the company, ranging from corporate positioning to executive and financial communications. She is also responsible for communicating the accomplishments of the company’s staffers around the world.
"I am here to build a world-class communications capability for the company, and as part of that I plan to expand Activision’s PR team," Osako said.
Prior to joining Activision, Osako served as Amazon’s director of corporate communications for nearly five years, where she handled communications for a number of areas, such as financial, policy, M&A, litigation, advertising, operations, and Amazon Prime Air drone delivery service, according to a press release.
Craig Berman, Amazon’s VP of global communications, said the company had not yet announced anything about Osako’s replacement. He declined to comment further.
Earlier in her career, Osako served as CCO and SVP at Ask.com. She also worked at Yahoo as VP of corporate communications, and Sprint as manager of media relations.
This story was updated on October 14 with comment from Activision.
