FaZe Clan Promotes Rana Kaplan to General Manager

FaZe Clan has named Rana Kaplan general manager and appointed five other staffers to prominent leadership roles within the youth gaming-focused media and lifestyle company.

Kaplan, who most recently served as chief of staff, has been at FaZe Clan for five years. In her new role, she will oversee an operations team focused on business process efficiency. Kaplan will report directly to FaZe Clan president and COO Zach Katz.

FaZe Clan has also filled five key exec positions across the company in content operations, talent, Web3, creative operations and human resources.

Summer Martin has been hired as vice president of content operations, joining FaZe Clan after managing production operations for series such as Netflix’s “Tidying Up by Marie Kondo.” At FaZe Clan, she will co-lead content strategy and operations with Stash Slionski, who has been upped to executive producer. Vera Salamone has been appointed vice president of talent after previously serving as the director of talent. 

Previously the director of creative services, Brooke Grant has been appointed head of Web3, tasked with overseeing FaZe Clan’s Web3 strategy and operations. Laura Ryk has been named head of creative operations, co-leading the department with Jay Richardson, creative director. Kelli Serden has been appointed vice president of human resources.

“As we head into this year, we are focused on increasing our community engagement and leveraging the full power of FaZe Clan, not just for the business but for the creator economy at large,” Katz said. “To achieve this, we are thrilled to appoint Rana Kaplan as our new general manager, and elevate key leaders across our departments who will be pivotal in maximizing the power of our brand and growing our business.” 

In addition to Kaplan’s elevation and the other above-mentioned leadership appointments, FaZe Clan has made several promotions across the company over the past few months, including Meredith Shiney, director of events; Nick Ruffini, senior director of branded content; Olu Obafemi, director of development; Ryan Ruggiero, YouTube strategist; Shawn Clark-Dougherty, VP of esports content; Jay Devonish, director of IP development; in addition to hiring George De La Cruz, EVP of accounting.

FaZe Clan has been rapidly expanding over the past year, detailing three-year plans for its TV content, including a “Saturday Night Live”-style series for its Gen Z audience, in an in-depth interview with Variety last April.

“We’ve always been a content-first organization and are excited to raise the bar with this new slate and first-of-its-kind programming created specifically for Gen Z,” Lee Trink, CEO and co-founder of FaZe Clan, said at that time. “FaZe Clan has long pioneered gaming content and actually created the first content house — so we are proud to lead the charge once again from our new studio in the FaZe Warehouse. This is just another new beginning and we are excited for the fans to see what’s ahead.”

(Pictured above: Summer Martin, Rana Kaplan, Vera Salamone)