Wizard COO Fred Pierce Let Go



I'm hearing that current COO and I believe still President of Wizard Entertainment Fred Pierce was apparently let go either today or yesterday by that company's founder and CEO Gareb Shamus. Pierce is a longtime Wizard employee, a significant part of the company's DNA, and has been cited in the past as one of the key hires by Gareb Shamus in moving his magazine past comics industry-only dominance into becoming one of the few newsstand success of recent years.

I believe Pierce has held more than one office there, and has been described at times as the company's business manager as as its chief financial officer, although almost everything recently refers to him as both president and COO or just COO. He's also been referred to as friends with and/or close to Wizard head honcho Shamus. I believe he was a figure of some controversy with many employees, current and former. I also think that some of Pierce's relatives have been employed at the company in recent years, although finding out who is still at Wizard can be a difficult task concerning the massive turnover with the company in recent months.

It's been almost two years since major shake-ups at the magazine publisher and convention organizer were initially announced, a time that has seen massive turnover in personnel and other signs -- a potential sale for the building, lackluster convention performances -- that indicate things aren't exactly well with the company. If true, and the company has yet to confirm, and if it holds, this will officially be the highest-profile departure to date.
 
posted 8:25 am PST | Permalink
 

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