GAMA hires first COO, reorganises senior staff as growing organisation prepares to unveil inaugural 10-year plan

Hobby games trade organisation GAMA has brought in its first-ever chief operating officer to help manage growing staff numbers, as it prepares to do away with ‘whack-a-mole’ planning by unveiling its inaugural 10-year plan.

Melinda Prickett, who also becomes GAMA deputy director, will handle day-to-day operations at the organisation, taking on some of the workload from executive director John Stacy.

She previously spent more than a decade at Girl Scouts of Ohio Heartland, including almost five years as COO.

Stacy said, “We’re thrilled to have Melinda’s energy and experience on the team, helping to guide our work and keep everything running smoothly.

“By bringing her on board, I’ll be able to focus more on strategic initiatives, advocacy, and strengthening GAMA’s connections with partner organizations.”

GAMA is currently preparing to reveal its inaugural 10-year plan, GAMA 2035, on September 18 – an initiative spearheaded by current GAMA president Nicole Brady.

She told BoardGameWire earlier this year that the move was an attempt to get the organisation away from “playing whack-a-mole” on important issues rather than managing them in a long-term strategy.

Brady said the organisation’s most recent fall planning session saw the board draw up a list of ambitious, “pie in the sky” ideas about where they would like to see GAMA in a decade, before giving Stacy the autonomy to figure out how those plans could be achieved.

She told BoardGameWire at GAMA Expo in February, “That’s something that he really hadn’t been that involved in the past – and it was great to see him involved, and great to see his input.

“It’s his staff. He knows what they’re capable of, and he also knows what staff he’s missing that he needs to be able to fulfill duties.

“We kept asking, ‘What other staff do you need to get the things done that you need to get done?’ But when you play whack-a-mole, you may need one person right now and then, ‘oh: we gotta fix this other problem’ – so all of a sudden you need another person.

“With a 10-year plan, he was able to do a lot better planning, and I think moving forward, that’s really where we’re he’s going to be able to make better decisions for the organization, with the board focusing on that 10 years.

“And it’s not 10 years and we’re done – it’s a moving thing, that 10 years. ‘Oh, we achieved this already? What’s our next pie in the sky idea?’ And just keep that target a lot further away and moving towards it.”

GAMA’s membership numbers have risen markedly in recent years as the organisation has expanded beyond its decades-long remit of representing hobby game publishers, retailers and wholesalers.

That drive has seen rising membership numbers from designers, manufacturers, media, event organisers and third-party service providers – and staff numbers at the organisation have almost doubled in the last two years to compensate.

Its flagship trade show, GAMA Expo, has also seen soaring attendances, with more than 3,420 turning out to the 2025 event – up 26% compared to its first event at the Kentucky International Convention Centre last year, and a 67% jump from the roughly 2,040 attendees at the Expo’s last show in its former home in Reno, Nevada in 2023.

Those numbers have left the event straining at the seams at the KICC, and GAMA has since announced it will be shifting the Expo to larger premises in Baltimore after the show’s contract in Kentucky ends in 2027.

GAMA said that alongside the COO hire, it was also reorganising some of its other senior staff positions in a new three-department structure.

That structure will see directors Julie Yeager lead the member services team, Gregoire Boisbelaud head up the events team and Eric Francis oversee the communications team, with previous events manager Paul McGraw moving to become hospitality manager.

GAMA said it is also currently interviewing candidates to fill the positions of finance and operations
coordinator, events manager, events coordinator, exhibitor coordinator, and part-time committee
coordinator.