R. Kirk Owen
Kirk Owen, CEO and Co-Founder of Merscom, has over 13 years experience in bringing to market computer and video games in over 50 countries including North America, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Brazil, Argentina, Korea, Japan, and Singapore. Kirk has licensed, produced and published computer and video games based on such leading properties as Star Trek, Pink Panther and Peter Gabriel. Owen is also a co-founder of Octagon Entertainment, a developer of computer and video games.
Prior to founding Merscom, Kirk was manager in the management consultant practice of Ernst & Young. Kirk served as an infantry officer in the US Army in Germany and completed the Army's Airborne and Ranger schools at Ft. Benning, Georgia. Owen has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science from Claremont McKenna College and a Masters in Business Administration from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.
Lloyd Melnick
Lloyd Melnick, Chief Customer Officer and Co-Founder of Merscom, has been involved with publishing and licensing computer and video games for over 13 years. As a co-founder of Merscom, Lloyd has marketed, produced and published over 150 games for both the casual and core gamer market. Lloyd was responsible for the US retail launches of Trainz Railroad Simulator 2006, Buku Brain Blast, Bode Miller Alpine Skiing, Terrorist Takedown and other great titles.
Lloyd Melnick has also developed and implemented Merscom's retail distribution network both in the United States and Europe. He secured relationships for Merscom with leading distributors including Take 2 Interactive and Atari in the US, helping Merscom gain access to all major retailers. In Europe, Lloyd works with over 100 distributors in over 30 countries to ensure Merscom's titles reach customers in every market. He has also arranged strategic relationships with Massive Inc., Adscape, Eyeblaster, Exent, Double Fusion, IGA Worldwide, DISCover, Scandinavian Games.
Lloyd Melnick has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Political Economy from John Hopkins University and a Masters in Business Administration from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. He also earned a Master of Arts in European Integration from the University of Limerick in Ireland. In 1989, Lloyd's analysis and prognosis for the European online sector was published in the Journal of European Business. This article was one of the first pedagogical works to bring attention to the huge potential of this market. Lloyd also served as a Country Analyst focused on southern Africa for the US Government for three years.