Top Stories

Growing up, Kristie Ramirez had dreams of going into the entertainment industry and managing a band.

Fast forward two decades and her childhood dreams have, to an extent, come true. Technically, she is in the entertainment industry and she is most definitely managing. But, instead of working with fans and up-and-coming artists in the $25 billion music industry, she’s a Senior Program Manager at Sony Interactive Entertainment, the company behind PlayStation, working with a wide array of gamers, developers, marketers, retailers, finance, and operations in the $227 billion gaming industry (PWC).

"I got into gaming at the same time I started my MBA,” Kristie says. “I was applying for e-commerce jobs and made it clear to the interviewers that I wanted to continue my education. My future manager at Electronic Arts (EA) could not have been more enthusiastic and I knew it was the right choice for me to join the company.”

After earning her degree, she was promoted to a Program Manager position at EA and then recruited to take on a new challenge to be part of the team at Sony Interactive that would go on to launch PlayStation 5 in 2020. 

Beyond the sheer size of the gaming industry, the underlying technology is nothing short of astonishing and in many ways surpasses the personal computing industry (only $204 billion in sales according to Mordor Intelligence). Players from around the world interact with each other in incredibly lifelike 3D battles, car races, sports games, and other adventures that react in real-time. The special effects, scripts, soundtracks, and production values rival those of blockbuster movies.

“Gaming is such a huge industry and it touches so many people every day,” Kristie says. “I can’t imagine any other field where a change deployed today can affect millions of people tomorrow. It’s exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time.”

Kristie’s role at Sony Interactive as a Senior Program Manager involves building and strengthening internal partnerships to drive understanding and support for the products Sony Interactive is bringing to market. She also programs large, strategically important cross-functional initiatives that require collaboration and alignment between product teams and business teams. 

For example, for a large-scale initiative, Kristie’s role is to make sure that business teams, such as Marketing, PR, Customer Experience, Legal, Finance, and Sales, to name a few, have the product information they need to support the launch. She then works with these teams to gather key milestones such as creating a promotional plan, updating customer service agents, and ensuring global legal compliance. Most importantly, Kristie makes sure that all of the teams are collaborating and sharing with each other as much as possible, which is key to a successful release.

“My job is to be the conduit between these groups of smart, passionate people,” Kristie explains. “When we’re all on the same page, magic happens.”

Kristie credits her ability to work successfully with strong-minded individuals in far flung teams to her “Double Bronco” education at Santa Clara University. After dropping out of Yale as an undergraduate to return to California, she enrolled at Santa Clara, and she is adamant that, “it was much harder than Yale.” After graduating Magna Cum Laude, she worked for a few years around the Silicon Valley before returning to earn an MBA from the Leavey School of Business.

“My focus at the Leavey School was on Marketing, but what I really learned was team management,” Kristie explains. “My work at Sony Interactive is the same as my projects at Leavey, just on a different scale: bringing together people from all over the world to create something bigger than any of us. It was hard then and it’s hard now, but it’s worth it.”

Kristie’s other takeaway from the Leavey School is something she feels very personally and profoundly: a sense of morality and ethics. “I am proud to work for a company that strongly and publicly values diversity and inclusion. We focus on making our platform and games accessible and create games that reflect the diversity of players.  Doing well by doing right really matters to me. I truly appreciate the moral traditions of Santa Clara as a Jesuit school in the modern world.”

Going forward, Kristie is at the beginning of what’s possible with Sony Interactive and expects to take part in exciting developments for years to come. She’s actively involved in employee networks that work to make Sony Interactive the best place to work for women, Hispanics, and employees with disabilities. Following on a CNBC/SurveyMoney study shows that 91% of employees with a mentor are happy with their work, Kristie is a mentorship administrator for Women@PlayStation, recruiting and pairing mentors and mentees. She’s even spearheaded the ABLE@PlayStation Walk to End Alzheimer’s team for two years.

So, while she won’t be hitting the road to promote a hot new band any time soon, her work has attracted more fans than she ever dreamed possible.