Zynga designer and Nexon exec join AIAS board

Zynga's chief game designer Brian Reynolds and Nexon America vice president of live games Min Kim are now both members of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences' Board of Directors.

"Min will make a welcome addition to the Board," said Shuhei Yoshida, current AIAS board member.

"Through games such as their flagship title, MapleStory, and now recently, Dragon Nest and Vindictus, Nexon has paved the way for Free-to-Play titles over the last decade to push this genre forward to ever expanding audiences in MMO gaming. We will greatly benefit from that same passion - there is no doubt he will work to make great strides in pushing the mission of the AIAS forward."

Min co-founded Nexon America, and launched the global edition of MapleStory.

"I'm incredibly excited to be joining the Academy Board," said Reynolds.

"Their awards program has always been a gold standard of recognition and career advancement for game makers and I'm honoured to have a chance to help advance it. Likewise, the D.I.C.E. Summit blows me away every year with the quality and calibre of developers they bring together. I believe this opportunity is an important step in the continuing assimilation of social games into the broader game community."

Before Zynga, Reynolds founded Firaxis and Big Huge Games, and worked on tiles like Civilization II and Catan for XBLA.

"Brian brings wonderful insight, creativity, and passion to the Board of Directors," added Epic's Mike Capps.

"During his twenty-one years in games, Brian has created exceptional console, downloadable, and social games - all while staunchly supporting the advancement of our dynamic industry.

Other board members include Ted Price, Frank Pearce, Ken Lobb and Google's Seth Ladd.