OpenDrives Names André Rievers to VP of Operations

OpenDrives has appointed André Rievers to VP of Operations. Rievers brings 25 years of experience in postproduction, esports, and broadcast production to oversee all areas of organizational operations at OpenDrives, as the company enters its next growth phase and expands within sports broadcast, esports, and more.

Rievers hails most recently from Activision Blizzard where he was the head of the post production department for the esports division, overseeing content production for broadcast, digital, social, marketing and sales for several games including Overwatch League and Call of Duty League.

“My first experience with OpenDrives was as an end-user for BlizzCon, a global event with hundreds of global broadcast streams distributed to 17 outlets in 18 languages,” says Rievers, VP of Operations at OpenDrives. “A live post-production workflow, almost impossible to pull off, ended up being absolutely seamless. But it wasn’t just about OpenDrives’ high-efficiency storage solution, it was also the company culture and team behind the build. OpenDrives carried the empathy and experience as former creatives themselves to holistically understand and execute on impeccable performance—this was the first, among many, moments that inspired me to ultimately join their team.”

Rievers has also held senior post-production and operations roles at Univision Television Group and Harris Broadcast in Atlanta. At Univision, Rievers led an onsite production team, producing 34 news stories during the 2014 World Cup’ in Brazil.

He has also led collaborative teams and managed complex, large-scale projects within entertainment post-production video environments including managing on-site adaptable operations for global broadcasts. In 2015, he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Historical/Cultural Program Special for his work producing “Passport to the World.”

“I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know André as an OpenDrives customer over the past four years. His leadership has always profoundly stood out to me. There is a significant difference between a boss and a leader, and Andre is without question, the latter,” says Sean Lee, Chief Product and Strategy Officer at OpenDrives. “André knows how to change the hearts and minds of people to adopt and build processes together as an engagement, not as a directive. As a people-first company, this makes him an organic fit to lead operations at OpenDrives and truly embodies the leadership qualities we look for. He also brings impressive post production expertise and extensive esports experience, and will be an invaluable asset to the entire team as we navigate our next phase of growth.”