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Isaac Childres steps down as Cephalofair CEO to focus on game design, promotes Price Johnson to role, hires Julie Ahern as COO
Isaac Childres, the founder of Cephalofair Games and designer of its runaway successes Gloomhaven and Frosthaven, is stepping down from his role as CEO to focus exclusively on game design at the company.
Cephalofair’s long-time chief operating officer Price Johnson has been promoted to CEO at the publisher, while industry veteran Julie Ahern has been hired from Van Ryder Games as its new COO.
Childres founded Cephalofair in 2014 to self-publish his first game, Forge War, and struck huge success with his follow-up design, fantasy co-op campaign design Gloomhaven, which raised about $4m for its second printing on Kickstarter in 2017.
Three years later the company broke the Kickstarter funding record for a tabletop game with Childres’ successor design Frosthaven, which pulled in almost $13m from more than 83,000 backers.
Childres has led the company since inception, seeing it growing from a one-person operation to overseeing a team handling design, development, writing, art direction, promotion, publishing and fulfillment.
New CEO Johnson, who joined Cephalofair in a business development role in 2017, oversaw strategic initiatives such as mass market placement of Jaws of the Lion, as well as managing marketing and production of Frosthaven as the heavily-delayed project navigated the huge disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
He has also been a high-profile voice in campaigning against US tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump over the last year, and aiming to highlight the heavy financial burden it has placed on tabletop game publishers – many of which rely on Chinese manufacturing for their titles.
Johnson will continuing to oversee strategic initiatives, business development, sales and marketing, and catalogue growth at the company following his promotion to CEO.
He said, “Working with Isaac since the early release days of Gloomhaven to grow both Cephalofair and our community has been an absolute privilege and highlight of my career.
“We have come a long way since the early days of indie game design and crowdfunding, while learning a lot about ourselves and this industry in the process.
“I can’t wait to share the exciting plans we have creatively and organizationally in this next chapter with our fans, but that starts by putting in the hard work alongside our amazing team, whom I thank for their trust and support.
“With confidence, there is no place I’d rather be… epic strategy awaits!”
A statement from Cephalofair said Childres would now focus solely on his role as lead game designer at the publisher, overseeing design and development on its entire line of games.
Julie Ahern, who replaces Johnson as COO, most recently spent almost four years as senior director of operations at Van Ryder Games, which is best known for solo horror game series Final Girl and murder mystery title Detective: City of Angels.
She previously spent almost 12 years at Greenbriar Games as COO and vice president, overseeing day-to-day of business operations and game development while contributing to the Folklore: The Afflication and Zpocalypse product lines.
Childres said, “Julie is my absolute favorite person in the board game industry (sorry Price!), and I could not be happier to welcome her to the team.
“I think she is the perfect fit for a needed role in this transition that allows me to focus on my core passion: designing epic, strategic games. Thanks Julie!”
Johnson added, “Growing as an organization means surrounding ourselves with professionals who not only compliment our core strengths, but exceed many of our own.
“Julie Ahern is one of those professionals I’ve long admired as a leader, innovator, and tabletop enthusiast. From coffees at conventions to shared manufacturing trips in China, I’m thrilled to finally have the opportunity to work directly alongside her as Cephalofair enters its next chapter.”
Ahern said, ““I have known and respected Isaac and Price for many years. While I loved my time at Van Ryder Games, it is a genuine pleasure to start this new adventure.
“I am thrilled to delve into the Gloomhaven universe with all its deep lore and challenging campaigns.”
Cephalofair’s most recent crowdfund saw it raise more than $5m on BackerKit for Gloomhaven Grand Festival – one of the highest-profile campaigns on the crowdfunding site to date – which included a second printing of Frosthaven, second edition of Gloomhaven and several other designs such as small-box release Gloomhaven: Buttons and Bugs.
That campaign has suffered heavy delays compared to its original timeline, however, due to both production delays and the volatility caused by US tariff policy.
The new edition of Gloomhaven, for example, only began fulfilling in May last year, despite initial estimates that it would begin fulfillment in March of 2024.
Cephalofair is currently on Wave 4 of production for the project, working on the Gloomhaven RPG, which it originally estimated would be fulfilled in July 2024.
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