Fran Townsend Leaves VP Of Corporate Affairs Position As Blizzard Shuffles Execs, But She's Not Really Leaving

Fran Townsend, Blizzard’s VP of Corporate Affairs and the woman who’s really only known for being a Homeland Security Advisor under Bush prior to joining the game developer, is stepping down from her current position. That’s not to say she’s leaving the company, though. Instead, the woman who drew criticism over a year ago for her response to accusations brought in the DFEH lawsuit and tweets speaking out against whistleblowing will be taking on the role of “senior counsel” for Kotick and Activision Blizzard’s Board of Directors.

News of this shift came in the form of an email sent to staff by Kotick that Kotaku obtained. As one would expect from almost any corporate email, the letter is positive, mentioning how “she tirelessly and successfully navigated a challenging time for the Company with leadership, conviction, and grace”. It states that she’d done “an extraordinary job enhancing the strong governance and compliance programs.”

Of course, with her shift, that means there are going to be other people moving around a bit as well. On October 1, Townsend’s deputies Jen Brewer and Luci Altman were promoted. The former to Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer and the latter to Corporate Secretary.

Note: Activision Blizzard is still under investigation by the state of California for serious harassment charges. CEO Bobby Kotick is alleged to have known about such actions within his company – and performed some himself – and shielded the perpetrators from consequences.