Laura Miele (born June 9, 1969) is an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
businesswoman who serves as the
COO
COO or coo may refer to:
Business
* Certificate of origin, used in international trade
* Chief operating officer or chief operations officer, high-ranking corporate official
* Concept of operations, used in Systems Engineering Management Process
...
of
Electronic Arts (EA), where she is responsible for the company's strategic planning framework. She was formerly Chief Studios Officer, a role she started in 2018.
Under her tenure, the company has developed several games in the industry, including
Battlefield,
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
,
Need for Speed,
The Sims,
Bejeweled,
Mass Effect, and the
EA Sports portfolio.
Personal life
Miele was born in
San Francisco and grew up in a residential area near
Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe (; was, Dáʔaw, meaning "the lake") is a Fresh water, freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada of the United States. Lying at , it straddles the state line between California and Nevada, west of Carson City, Nevad ...
.
She got her start in games through an affinity for board games with family.
While studying at the
University of Nevada at Las Vegas
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the ...
, Miele simultaneously worked at architectural companies. Miele now lives in the
Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...
.
Career
In 1996, Laura Miele joined video game developer
Westwood Studios as a project manager and then become the head of marketing for its parent company,
Virgin Interactive, and when EA acquired Westwood in 1998,
she stayed on to focus on developing advanced analytics for revenue forecasting.
Laura Miele hired a data analyst team known as "the Jedi," and directed them to build Electronic Art's first statistical regression models to study "sales trends, seasonality, and preorders". It took about two years to put the system in place.
Miele has held a variety of leadership roles during her tenure at Electronic Arts. As Chief Studios Officer, Miele has managed 6,000 staffers and thousands of contractors, in addition to overseeing EA's 25 studios.
Laura Miele became known for incorporating the gaming community's feedback in her decisions on what games should be made, such as those related to
skateboarding
Skateboarding is an extreme sport, action sport originating in the United States that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry Profession, job, and a ...
.
Prior to that, Miele served as executive vice president of global publishing, senior vice president of publishing, and when EA signed a 10-year deal with
The Walt Disney Company in 2013, Miele became
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
general manager. She also served as senior vice president of global marketing and vice president of strategic planning.
Miele started a women's networking and mentorship group at Electronic Arts. Being interested in
women's rights, she works for the representation of women in games.
Miele served on the board of the
Silicon Valley Community Foundation and also leads the EA Women's Ultimate Team.
References
{{Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts employees
Women corporate executives
Businesspeople from San Francisco
University of Nevada, Las Vegas alumni
1969 births
Living people