The Association for Continuing Education in Esports (ACES) has announced the first five UK esports professionals that will comprise its industry advisory board.
In addition to revealing the individuals that will make up the advisory board, ACES also announced an online symposium that will take place this September.
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Dr. Richard Oddy, Chair and Co-founder of ACES, commented in a release: “We firmly believe that esports education must be fit for purpose, therefore it’s imperative to best equip courses and programmes in order to be able to drive the sector forward. The fusion of industry and education in the form of ACES will do some amazing things and have an impact for years to come.”
Rob Black, Founder and CEO of recently-launched turnkey esports agency Promod Esports, has been named the Chair of the industry advisory board. Prior to establishing Promod Esports, Black was the Chief Operating Officer of ESL UK.
Joining Black on the board are Psych-Chek Founder Edgar Chekera, Hotdrop Managing Director Heather Dower, Hitmarker Managing Director Richard Huggan, and Esports Insider’s own Managing Director, Sam Cooke. Two additional members will be added in the coming weeks, according to ACES.
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Black added: “I’m honoured to have been invited to sit as Chair for the inaugural two-year term. I believe there is a lot of work to be done around esports education in the UK and beyond. Our sector needs a strong pipeline of talented and skilled-up professionals and all of us at the IAB are very excited to begin working on bringing academia and esports closer together.”
ACES was initially founded by six UK academics in October 2019 to help bring together esports industry and academia. The non-profit organisation will host a virtual symposium on September 9th, with additional details to follow soon.
Esports Insider says: The esports industry will need a steady pipeline of talent as it expands in the coming years, and ACES aims to make sure that universities are well-equipped and connected to industry leaders and resources. The advisory board’s wide-ranging experience should help ACES in its mission.