British Esports appoints projects executive and Scotland representative

Dominic Sacco

3 min read | 14 Jan 2020

Games development lecturer Gary Tibbett (right) and Scottish esports expert Mark McCready (left) join the team

The British Esports Association, the not-for-profit set up to promote grassroots esports in the UK, has hired two new members of staff on a part-time basis.

Gary Tibbett joins as Projects Executive and is currently working on an unannounced initiative. He will also assist school and college liaison officer Alice Leaman to help teams in the North of the UK join the British Esports Championships, as well as support future tournaments and help teachers learn about esports.

He has been involved with the British Esports Association since its pilot Championships for schools and colleges two years ago, having worked as a lecturer in nextgen animation and VFX at Sunderland College, who won the pilot and went on to win the 2018/19 Overwatch Championships grand final.

Gary has worked as a games lecturer for four years and also has a background as a character animator. He’s currently a games development lecturer at Middlesbrough College, where he works three days a week, and is also a big fan of League of Legends and World of Warcraft.

Gary said: “I am passionate about esports and how it can bring people together and look forward to working with the British Esports Association. It is my goal to show everyone how great the esports talent pool is in schools and colleges – and to help students secure a career in esports.”

Mark McCready has also joined the British Esports Association part-time as its Scotland representative. 

He will help teams in Scotland enter the British Esports Association and liaise with Scottish sports and education stakeholders who require esports support.

Mark will also help Gary and Alice reach teams the Northern part of England, as well as offer support for national and international pilots and tournaments.

Through his experiences at Queen Margaret University, Mark expanded into the esports scene and gained two years of experience by coordinating his own tournaments and events. His career started with his own events platform in early 2018 and he later became the events manager at Esports Scotland towards the end of 2018, where he has experience coordinating events at Resonate Total Gaming and Season 2 of the Scottish Esports League.

Mark is also the current president of the esports society at his university, which he founded in early 2019, and he created the foundations of community platform Scottish University Esports, bringing Scottish universities together to grow the esports scene within Scotland.

Mark said: “I’m extremely excited to be working on the team at British Esports Association to build upon the esports scene across the UK. There is loads of work to be done, and we’re excited to start putting it all in place!’