Riot Games announced Friday that it has appointed Carlos Antunes to the role of head of League of Legends Esports for the Americas. Antunes has nearly a decade of experience in leading League of Legends leagues in Brazil, including Campeonato Brasileiro de League of Legends (CBLOL) and Latin America Liga Latinoamérica (LLA).
In his new role, Antunes will be in charge of the entire League of Legends esports ecosystem for North America, Latin America, and Brazil—including adding League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) in the U.S. to his responsibilities going forward.
Antunes will report directly to Raul Fernandez, head of Esports for the Americas, and Naz Aletaha, global head of LoL Esports. His first order of business, according to Riot, will be to identify and secure a new Commissioner to help lead the LCS. Antunes will also relocate from Brazil to Riot headquarters in Los Angeles.
Antunes joined Riot in 2016 as the head of esports for Brazil, where he oversaw the strategic direction of operations, business development, content, and broadcast. Antunes helped drive the growth and development of CBLOL, and helped usher in “continuous viewership and revenue growth year-over-year since 2018.” He was also responsible for bringing in major partners into the region and the league including Gillette, Mastercard, Red Bull, Santander, Heineken, Nestlé, and others.
Before joining Riot, Antunes worked in various roles at such companies as DM9DDB, Artplan/Gruda, GEO Eventos, and Esporte Interativo. He holds a Bachelor in Chemical Engineering from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro and a Master of Science in Philosophy from Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro. Antunes also graduated from the Los Angeles Film School and Academia Internacional de Cinema.