343 Leadership
CVP, Head of 343 Industries
- Bonnie Ross (2007-2022)
- Pierre Hintze (2022-Current)
Pierre is known as the guy who "fixed" TMCC but it of course was a team effort. He joined 343i in 2018 as Head of Publishing in their secondary team working with external partners, the primary team being the mainline titles, Pierre was tasked with leading the Master Chief Collection repair efforts which he did so brilliantly, TMCC before 2018 was an absolute mess, since Pierre took over it was updated massively and not only that, added more content than was ever promised. Pierre's expertise are mostly focused in production/producer as well.
Franchise Development Director
- Frank O'Connor (2008-2023)
- Corrine Robinson (2023-Current)
Frankie was essentially known as the 2nd in charge of 343i behind Bonnie Ross.
Head of Transmedia and Entertainment
- Kiki Wolfkill (2015-2023)
I'm unsure who replaced her or if she simply moved outside of 343i, I have previously speculated that maybe the whole Transmedia team was moved outside of 343i to be less of a distraction for Pierre, Kiki was essentially the 3rd pillar of 343i back in the day.
General Manager (New)
- Bryan Koski (2022-Current)
Technically Bonnie Ross was Studio Head, CVP, General Manager, etc. Since she left, Pierre decided to split her roles up.
Chief Operating Officer (New)
- Elizabeth Van Wyck (2022-Current)
This was another role in which Pierre decided to split up instead of one person being in charge of everything.
Studio Design Director
- Max Szlagor (2023-Current)
*Unsure if this is a new role or not, 343 had Live Design Director, Multiplayer Design Director and Narrative Design Director but I can't find a "Studio Design Director" listed in Halo 5 or Halo Infinite credits, it could be that the name was simply changed or maybe this is Chris Lee's role but with a slight name change? Studio Director > Studio Design Director, are they the same thing?
Max comes from the Publishing team too (like Pierre) and given a lot of credit for positively changing MCC from the state it was in after he joined the team starting in 2017-2018.
Studio Director/Head of FPS Development
- Chris Lee (2016-2020)
Unsure who has replaced him, I would speculate either Max Szlagor or Pierre have absorbed his role.
Head of Design
- Jerry Hook (Halo Infinite-2022)
Lead Game Designer
- Dan Gniady (2024-Current)
Did Dan replace Jerry Hook? Lead Game Designer and Head of Design sound like the same thing but I've listed them separate to be safe.
Multiplayer Creative Director
- Tom French (Left 2022)
Can't find his replacement yet.
Lead Multiplayer Designer
- Andrew Witts (Halo Infinite-2022)
Can't find his replacement yet.
Forge Lead
- Tom French (Halo 5 Guardians)
- Michael Schorr (Halo Infinite-Current)
Head of Engineering
- David Berger (2007-2022)
Can't find his replacement, I assume part of his removal was down to swapping to Unreal Engine.
Art Director
- Nicolas Bouvier (2014-2022
- Chris Matthews (2022-Current)
Cinematic Director
- Josh Daniels (2024-Current)
Unsure who the previous Cinematic Director was, Lol.
Chief of Staff
- Rob Semsey (2017-2022)
- Melissa Boone (2022-Current)
Rob Semsey is still at 343i but he is now Director of Communications.
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This isn't an extensive list and there have also been changes outside of Pierre's control like the 100+ layoffs, the Campaign team was essentially gutted, the leadership team has completely changed, I'm not sure what more people could want, they wanted change and they got it, at this point it is essentially a new studio, with a new leadership team, a new direction and half the core team will have to be staffed back up after the layoffs. Unless people believe in curses and think the studio itself is cursed then I don't get people not giving them a chance to prove themselves.
I don't believe you can objectively say this is still the same old 343i. Give Pierre time to cook on something on his making, in the two years he has been saddled with Halo Infinite which was in a mess for post-launch and slapped round the face with layoffs, largely not his fault and the fault of previous management, in those two years he has seemingly came up with a plan, changed the studios approach to development, streamlined the studio, set them up on Unreal Engine and created a prototype while continuing to support Halo Infinite.
