Sierra On-Line, Inc., a division of Vivendi Universal Publishing, recently announced the addition of two seasoned executives to its management team. Thomas K. Hernquist, takes the reigns as president & CEO, and Michael A. Ryder steps in as COO and senior vice president of product development. Hernquist will be reporting to Vivendi Universal Games CEO Hubert Joly. Coming from the consumer packaged goods business, Hernquist joins Sierra after four years with Nabisco, where, as senior vice president of marketing, he was responsible for the company's $4 billion flagship retail cookie and cracker business. Hernquist previously served as vice president of marketing for Nabisco's Lifesavers division, where he was responsible for its $600 million confections business. Prior to Nabisco, Hernquist held a variety of senior management positions at CPC International. As COO and senior vice president of product development, Ryder will be reporting to Hernquist. Ryder most recently was the CEO of SOCO Corp., a software development company targeting the next-generation mobile online market. Prior to SOCO, Ryder was vice president and general manager for Electronic Arts' Seattle organization. He also served as senior vice president and general manager for the largest publishing unit within GT Interactive Software, Inc. "The strengths of these two leaders along with the talent and skills we have within Sierra create a very powerful combination," said Joly. "Together, they will be responsible for expanding Sierra's success across platforms, toward what is increasingly a mass market." Sierra On-Line, Inc., a subsidiary of Vivendi Universal Publishing and part of the Vivendi Universal Games division, is one of the original developers and largest worldwide publishers of interactive entertainment and productivity software.
