MOBAFire Profile: CLG CEO Helen Georgallidis Part 2 eSports Central

I helped George with his financials when he couldn't keep up with the paperwork himself. It became complicated when he started to get more streamers, and sponsor contracts. I took a really active role in the company in February of 2012. Then I started meeting regularly with sponsors and Robert Del Papa our COO. George was so busy travelling, and with his streaming schedule he would miss important meetings, or not be around to sign important papers. I started handling more and more legal and contract work with Robert. Finally, we teamed up together, to free George to play full time again. George didn't really love the paper work, meetings etc. He wasn't happy and it was affecting his playing. He considered selling CLG, but I told him I would take over for him so he didn't have to do that. We made a formal announcement because it was really weird being introduced as this is George's mom. She's going to be at the meeting. It really confused the business world, so it was decided that I should make an announcement so people could get to know me better.

I work for the third largest Board of Education in Ontario and we have an operating budget of close to one billion dollars. We run on a very corporate model and I had taken many leadership and training courses. I was in charge of important projects and led many teams of people. Teachers have to be good at paperwork, multi-tasking, handling parents and the public. I had run system-wide workshops, had specialties and worked on projects. These skills transfer naturally to the CLG business. I rely a lot on Robert to help me manage the company. He and I split up a lot of the work; however, we connect every day and do most of the business meetings with sponsors together.

My plan is to continue teaching. I start working at six in the morning and do my international calls then. I go to work and usually get home around 5:00 pm EST which is 2:00 in PST so if there are any business meetings I schedule them after school. I've always slept around 6 hours so I have time to fit everything in. I'm three years away from full-time retirement but can take a leave of absence, if CLG needs me to step in full-time. Right now, Robert and I are able to manage things together with my schedule, although, we are both getting insanely busy.

By the time George stepped down, Robert and I were running, the business side of CLG. George's crazy travel and schedule caused him to miss meetings or not be around to work on projects or speak with Sponsors. He was unhappy having to deal with paper work, contract, lawyers or accountants. George and I speak every few days on Skype. He discusses with me what he wants for the future of his team and CLG. Robert and I work on making that dream come true.

We are expanding into China. I plan to travel there in August. Also I am working with another big gaming organization on projects and partnerships. I have a great team of people supporting our projects. More to come in the near future.

So far, we have been working with volunteers and working around people's school and job schedules. These people have been with us since the beginning and are really important to us. Now that we are dealing with a more corporate image we need to bring more people on board to take over projects. We have been paying insane amounts of money for team tournaments and travel, so we have to be careful with our budget and plan to pay in the future for better web development, content etc.

Education has become primarily team-based. Experience has shown that people are more productive and get better results when working together. We are focusing more and more on accountability and team development. Counter Logic Gaming was started with a lot of volunteers not really reporting to anyone, and players just doing whatever they wanted. This is no longer an efficient way of growing the company. Feedback, setting goals, identifying and solving problems through a cooperative approach are just some of the ways we are changing and improving.

To grow big, people within eSports are going to have to think in new and innovative ways. I was part of the mainstream that didn't know anything about eSports. Educating the general public about the tremendous opportunities that exist within this industry will help clear up common misconceptions why careers in eSports are not considered viable choices. The truth is that there are hundreds and hundreds of jobs connected to eSports and young people who are passionate about gaming could pursue career paths in this industry.

Right now, it's a lot of work. I have meetings and paperwork scheduled every day. My biggest challenge will be to take time for myself since I work a lot of hours.

I come from a corporate background and everything is business for me at work. I deal with people who are highly educated and we are used to working as a team and meeting deadlines and finishing projects. The eSports world has not always adjusted to this corporate way of doing business. It's sometimes annoying when people aren't doing what they are expected to do but I'm used to dealing with that in teaching. There is an attitude in eSports by some people that women can't do a good job because it's a "man's field". Many people have been really surprised after doing business with me. I have a very clear vision of how to expand CLG, and I've done a lot of in the short time I've stepped in to run things. With my background, I have many ideas on how to make eSports more widely known and accepted in the mainstream. We weren't sure if having a CEO who is not a traditional eSports type would be accepted by the eSports community. Everyone is watching to see if this works out. I think more and more people are surprised by how well I am doing.

Transparency builds trust. While doing business in eSports, companies, players and organisations closely guard contacts, plans, and information and it becomes hard to build this trust. Generally, many people I've dealt with are considerably younger than the management teams that run schools or Boards of Education. At times, this creates difficulties, as generally accepted business practices, and protocols are not in place or ignored and this leads to misunderstandings. I've learned to anticipate this and my approach is to clearly define what I expect from others and what others can expect from me in return.

Supporting new and upcoming teams is important to us. Things are in the works to promote these new players and our acquisition of CLG Black was the beginning step in our plan to keep LOL balanced and support new and upcoming talent.

I would like Counter Logic Gaming to serve as a model for other player owned teams to become viable businesses in the future. Right now, most player teams collapse because running an organization requires a lot of business experience and money. Now-a-days with an huge amount of tournaments, travel, player's salaries, and costs involved to have websites, staff etc. it's really difficult to set up new organizations like we did with CLG. I'd like to mentor/coach other upcoming teams and make it possible for them to be like us. Five years from now, I'd like to be working full time for CLG when I retire and help eSports grow to the point where we see courses in high schools that would help prepare young people for the hundreds of careers they could choose to work in this exciting field. I think that's where my background is really going to be useful in the future.

For me this is the most important part of the interview. My shout outs are to the CLG team that made it easy for me to step in and be successful. Robert first shout out to you. Every day gets better and better! My writers and designers... those staff chats are insane! Our players on EU and Black and Dota. You guys bring so much to CLG. A big thanks! Stuart Saw from own3d for their support, Christopher from Razer not only dedicated to gamers, but a role model for gamers, Chris Hesse from XMG, love our talks and those cool notebooks. Trevor from Elobuff, those stats brought LOL to a whole new level. Toby and Brian from eSports Management, see you soon in Vegas! Also, Kevin and Eleine at Twitch TV thanks for taking the time to make me feel welcome... Odie and team Dignitas... you guys are great! Travis at SOTL who is a close friend of CLG... proud to see all the work you do for this community; can't wait for updates from Korea. And to the many CLG fans... thanks for the Realmomgg comments... makes me proud to have your support.