Eclectic Convergence 2023: A Fireside Chat with Reggie Fils Aimé ’83, Retired Pres. & COO Nintendo

Reggie Fils-Aimé is an award-winning innovator and disrupter most recognized as the retired President and Chief Operating Officer of Nintendo of America (NOA), the largest division of the Japanese entertainment company Nintendo Co., Ltd. (NCL). In this capacity, he helped bring Nintendo’s greatest successes to the global marketplace.

Fils-Aimé was the first American and African American to be President of NOA, and the first American and African American named as an Executive Officer of NCL. He retired in April 2019 and was inducted into the International Video Game Hall of Fame later that year. Before Nintendo, Fils-Aimé graduated with distinction from Cornell University’s Dyson undergraduate business school which launched a 35+ year career as an operating executive spanning the consumer-packaged goods, restaurant, beverage, durable goods, and media/entertainment industries.

Since retiring, Fils-Aimé has focused his energy on cultivating the next generation of business leaders. In August 2019, he was named Dyson’s inaugural Leader in Residence for the 2019/2020 academic year, instructing students on leadership and innovation. He also founded Brentwood Growth Partners to help emerging companies scale and enable leaders to create world-class cultures.

Fils-Aimé currently is a non-executive director for Spin Master Inc. (TOY.TO), and Brunswick Corp. (BC). He is also a special advisor for Rogue Co., an innovative video games publisher and developer. Most recently, Fils-Aimé was named Chairman of the Board for a special purpose acquisition company (UTA Acquisition Corp.) focused on gaming and its adjacency markets.

Fils-Aimé’s first book, DISRUPTING THE GAME: FROM THE BRONX TO THE TOP OF NINTENDO was published by HarperCollins Leadership on May 3, 2022, and became a Wall Street Journal bestseller.

Entrepreneurship at Cornell is a diverse, university-wide program that finds and fosters the entrepreneurial spirit in participants from every college, every field, and in every stage of life. We are grounded in the belief that individuals who exhibit an entrepreneurial spirit and have acquired entrepreneurial knowledge can add significant value to any working environment from the smallest startup to the largest business, from non-profits to government agencies.

source