| This Year | Herbert C. Kay History | Past Lecturers | Event Map |

This year's public lecture, UCSB to Blizzard - Turning Your Passion Into Your Success, will be held on May 13, 2009 at the University of California, Santa Barbara's Campbell Hall at 2:30pm. Admission is free. Seating is limited.

Paul Sams

As the chief operating officer for Blizzard Entertainment, Inc., Paul Sams is responsible for the entirety of the company’s global business operations. This includes areas as diverse as customer support, public relations, finance, human resources, marketing, business development, and licensing, among others. Sams is a key leader, spokesperson, operational expert, and decision-maker for the company, serving as a leader of corporate strategy for all Blizzard Entertainment® properties, including Warcraft®, Diablo®, StarCraft®, and World of Warcraft®. Additionally, he is responsible for managing the growth of the company’s online gaming network, Battle.net®, which is one of the largest services of its type in the world. A recent milestone for Sams was the negotiation of an agreement with Legendary Pictures to create a live-action Warcraft film. Sams joined Blizzard Entertainment after two and a half years at educational software company Davidson & Associates, Inc. There, Sams was responsible for a wide range of business activities, including serving as the general manager of the joint venture between Davidson and Simon & Schuster, during which he oversaw the release of several popular titles. One of his largest projects was to help orchestrate Davidson’s acquisition of Silicon & Synapse, which would later become Blizzard Entertainment. After working closely with Silicon & Synapse during the acquisition, Sams officially transferred over in 1996, becoming the director of business development for the rapidly expanding company. Since then, he has steadily taken on additional responsibilities and has helped guide Blizzard Entertainment’s growth into a world-renowned developer and publisher of entertainment software with an unbroken string of #1-selling releases. Sams holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in business economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara. Diablo®, StarCraft®, Warcraft® and World of Warcraft ® are the copyrighted products of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc., and are used with the express permission of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.