Casey Chafkin is the Chief Strategy Officer and co-founder of Skillz (NYSE: SKLZ), the first publicly-traded mobile esports platform in the world. In his role, Chafkin oversees key strategic initiatives for the company.

He began his career as a market analyst and brand strategist for CarMax before joining AisleBuyer in 2010, where he served as Vice President of Business Development prior to the company’s sale to Intuit in 2012. At AisleBuyer he met Andrew Paradise, and in 2012 the two founded Skillz, the mobile gaming platform that helps developers build multi-million dollar franchises by enabling social competition in their games.

Chafkin earned his BS in Economics at Duke University and an MBA from Harvard University. A well-respected authority on mobile payments and performance marketing, Chafkin has been featured in outlets such as CNBC, VentureBeat, and the Silicon Valley Business Journal and is a sought-after panelist and commentator at global tech conferences.

Gaurav Verma is a gaming and digital entertainment leader with more than a decade of experience scaling revenue in mobile consumer industries. An IIT Bombay graduate, Gaurav led RummyCircle—a product of Games24x7, India’s largest multi-gaming platform—from $10 million to $300 million, managing a team of 145 across product, marketing, analytics, and operations. He also revamped the subscription model at JioSaavn, India’s largest music streaming app with over 160 million MAUs, turning it into a key revenue driver.

A lifelong gamer, Gaurav is now focused on advancing competitive mobile gaming at Skillz, using innovation and data to enhance user engagement while delivering impactful gaming experiences for its players.

Mr Franceschi joined Skillz in January 2024 and serves as Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining Skillz, Mr. Franceschi was the Senior Vice President and Head of Finance of Compass, a real estate technology company. Prior to Compass, he served as CFO of Amazon Games, CFO of AWS Data Center General Services and served in a variety of operational finance positions at Citi and American Express.

Mr. Franceschi holds a Master’s in Business Administration from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Northwestern University.

Nicole Singleton is the Head of People Operations at Skillz. In her role, Nicole leads all people-centered initiatives for the company including hiring, onboarding, and performance management. Under her guidance, the People Operations function is dedicated to increasing overall employee engagement, productivity and efficiency.

Prior to joining Skillz, Nicole served as the Vice President of Organizational Transformation for Groupon. Previously, she was the Human Resources Director across Zappos Family of Companies. While at Zappos, she specialized in Human Resource Business Partnering, handling everything from hiring and benefits to compliance and employee relations.

Nicole received her Bachelor’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She is currently
completing her MBA from Babson F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business.

Will is the Head of Financial Planning and Analysis at Skillz. In this role, Will is responsible for managing the company’s financial health and provides oversight of all budgeting, forecasting, and reporting processes. Prior to joining Skillz, Will was the Head of Corporate Finance at Twitch Interactive. Before that, Will held strategic finance and business analytics roles at Twitter, Informatica, and Apple. Will earned his B.S. in Business Administration and Economics from University of California at Berkeley.

Nikul (Nik) Patel is the Interim General Counsel at Skillz, where he oversees legal, compliance, and regulatory matters. Nik Patel is a seasoned legal professional with extensive experience in various aspects of corporate and securities law. Prior to joining Skillz, Nik was a Senior Associate at international law firm King & Spalding LLP, where he represented a wide variety of clients in mergers and acquisitions, corporate and securities matters.  Nik received his B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before graduating from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law.

Tim is the Head of Partnerships at Skillz. Prior to joining Skillz in 2022, Napoleon led a business development function at Amazon focused on cross-company partnerships with strategic gaming partners. Prior to Amazon, he was on the founding teams for two online distribution platforms that went public. At the start of the explosion of online streaming in 2005, he was the Chief Strategy Officer for Akamai which underpinned the online delivery of brands like Netflix and Apple.

Tim holds an MBA in Studio and Film Management from USC Marshall School of Business and a Communications degree from Cal State Fullerton. He is an avid supporter of independent studios in media and gaming regularly attending Sundance and supporting kick starter projects. He coded his first adventure game on a Commodore 64 while in elementary school.