Mike Seavers is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Yuga Labs, a leading company in the NFT space, best known for launching the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) project. Prior to joining Yuga Labs, served as the Executive Vice President (EVP) of development at Epic Games, and spent 7 years at Riot Games, with his last 3 years there as CTO. He is also an experienced software engineer and manager. ^[1]

Education

In 2002, Mike Seavers enrolled in the University of Phoenix, graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration in 2007. From 2007 to 2008, he further expanded his knowledge and expertise by earning a Certificate in Executive Management & Leadership from the MIT Sloan School of Management. ^[2]

Career

Mike Seavers started his career in 1995 as a Computer Communication System Controller in the United States Air Force, where he served for four years. He then transitioned to the role of Software Engineer on a contract basis at Anheuser-Busch, where he developed the first-ever online e-commerce system for Busch Entertainment between February 1999 and October 1999. ^[3]

From October 1999 to February 2001, he worked as a Solutions Architect at marchFIRST, Inc. Following this, Mike joined Celox Networks as a Software Engineer, serving from February 2001 to August 2002. ^[3]

In subsequent roles, Mike consistently showcased his expertise. From October 2002 to March 2004, he served as a Project Manager at Mastercard, where he oversaw several projects, notably the FIFA World Cup Sponsorship program. ^[3]

Transitioning to AT&T, he took on the position of Program Manager on contract from March 2004 to October 2005, where he led the nationwide implementation of speech recognition technology. ^[3]

From October 2005 to April 2008, Mike held the role of Group Manager - Emerging Solutions at BJC HealthCare, where he built a technology R&D team from scratch and delivered several innovations to member hospitals. ^[3]

He continued his career at Express Scripts as a Senior Manager - Software Engineering from April 2008 to April 2009, owning the patient portal and call center application teams and leading the organization through an agile transformation. ^[3]

As the Director - Professional Services at World Wide Technology, he played a pivotal role in leading service delivery teams nationwide from April 2009 to March 2013. ^[3]

Gaming Industry

In March 2013, Mike joined Riot Games as Director of Engineering, where he led multiple teams and initiatives, including Legends of Runeterra engineering and League of Legends competitive, until August 2016. ^[3]

Following this, he assumed the position of Head of Technology at Riot Games, leading the daily operations of the global engineering organization, serving as General Manager for the St. Louis studio, and leading several product development teams from August 2016 to August 2017. ^[3]

From August 2017 to July 2020, he served as (CTO) at Riot Games, providing technical vision, strategy, and organizational leadership for global technology and production organizations. ^[3]

Mike transitioned to AppOnboard as CEO from July 2020 to April 2021. During his tenure, the company raised a $20M Series C and played a he also played a pivotal role in shaping the future of the Buildbox game engine. ^[3][5]

In June 2021, he joined Epic Games as EVP, Development, overseeing product development and engineering for various Epic Games offerings, including Unreal Engine, Online Services, Epic Games Store, Fortnite Engineering, Infrastructure, Data, Security, and QA, until May 2023. ^[3]

Yuga Labs

Currently, Mike Seavers holds the position of Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Yuga Labs, starting in May 2023, contributing his expertise to Yuga's projects, including Yuga Labs' metaverse project, Otherside. ^[3][4]

“Mike has a proven track record of taking organizations to the next level, and he shares our vision for how important digital identity and community will be for the future of the internet. We have an opportunity to be the Web3 platform at the forefront of entertainment, and Mike’s expertise will help us scale to achieve that,” - Daniel Alegre, CEO of Yuga Labs