PopCap Games, the leading developer and publisher of casual video games, today announced that it has hired Martin Gannholm, a 20-year technology industry veteran, to the newly-created position of Vice President of Engineering. Mr. Gannholm comes to PopCap after four years as a senior member of Microsoft Corporation's business software division, most recently as Architect and Group Program Manager of Microsoft Office Live. Prior to his tenure at Microsoft, Mr. Gannholm spent a decade with two innovative Web ventures, both of which he co-founded. Mr. Gannholm will report directly to PopCap CEO David Roberts.

"We're delighted to have Martin joining our management team and overseeing our engineering efforts, which are far-flung and ambitious," said Roberts. "Martin will oversee a single organization comprising multiple teams, responsible for a quickly expanding portfolio of technology. From providing game integration into new environments and platforms to creating solutions for new Web- and Intranet-based initiatives, Martin's group will steer PopCap's technological future in many key respects."

"PopCap's incredible attention to detail and absolute dedication to the highest production values possible was a major point of appeal for me," Gannholm said. "PopCap offers the perfect blend of start-up mentality and established business success – freedom to be creative and the resources to make those creative ideas real. In this Internet-connected, service-enabled world, there's a huge opportunity to bring PopCap's games to more people in more ways than ever, and I'm looking forward to helping drive that side of the company."

Mr. Gannholm spent much of the '90s as a senior engineering executive and co-founder of Net-It Software and Allegis Corporation, Internet start-ups focused on online document publishing and enterprise software, respectively. As part of those efforts, Mr. Gannholm was among the first adopters of Java in the browser for Net-It. He began his career at Apple, Inc., starting with a stint in Apple's localization facility in his native Sweden. Over the next ten years, Mr. Gannholm went on to senior engineering positions with Apple's HyperCard and Newton divisions, and was one of four core team members on the Newton's development.

Mr. Gannholm holds a number of patents related to software and the Web, including ones for rule-based database security and another for creating interactive Web page objects. He is fluent in English, Swedish and Afrikaans, and has also studied French and Mandarin Chinese. Mr. Gannholm lives in the Seattle area with his wife and three children.