Rebel Monkey adds CTO

Rebel Monkey, the New York-based casual games studio, has appointed Jeff Kesselman as its chief technology officer.

He joins co-founders Margaret Wallace and Nick Fortugno as the company prepares its ‘upcoming gaming environment’ – a project still under close wraps. Rebel Monkey gained $1m VC investment at the start of the year to build its project. Before forming Rebel Monkey Wallace was CEO of Skunk Studios and Fortungo designed casual megahit Diner Dash.

The studio heads did reveal some hints of what they are working on in announcing Kesselman’s appointment, saying his expertise includes "an impressive background in multiplayer scaling, security and infrastructure".

He previously invented Sun Labs’ Project Darkstar and spearheaded Sun’s push into the online games market

"We’re delighted to have Jeff join our management team," said Wallace. "As CTO, Jeff brings unparalleled experience and technical know-how to the company, allowing Rebel Monkey to deploy its forthcoming web-based gaming environment on a massive worldwide scale."

Kesselman added: "Rebel Monkey is breaking new ground by creating social environments that focus on entirely new kinds of gaming experiences. I look forward to joining the highly talented team at Rebel Monkey and to work toward accelerating the company’s rapid growth toward market prominence."