A collection of lesser-known tidbits about Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime

Most people know that Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime used to work at Pizza Hut as their Senior Director of Marketing. He also worked as Head of Marketing for Guinness. That's the easy trivia on Nintendo's big guy. Below are some tidbits from an interview with Reggie from Cornell Alumni Magazine which reveal a lot more of what he was up to prior to Nintendo.

- Fils-Aime is married to Stacey Sanner, his longtime girlfriend whom he met in his previous position at VH1. He has three children from a previous marriage.
- Fils-Aime was born to Haitian immigrants, that moved to the United States due to the conflicting political views of Fils-Aime's grandparents.
- His maternal grandfather, a doctor by training, was in the Haitian government.
- His paternal grandfather was in the opposing military.
- Both of his parents were college-educated within the curriculum in Haiti.
- His mother worked in retail (in the United States) as the lead sales representative in a fine-jewelry store.
- His father became a machinist.

Education

- Attended Brentwood High School 1975-1979
- Was in the Sonderling Basketball Varsity Team 1977-78
- Was in the Sonderling Soccer Varsity Team 1977
- Majored in Applied Economics and Management at Cornell.
- Fils-Aime graduated, with distinction, from Cornell University in 1983 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Economics.
- Pledged Phi Sigma Kappa (became president)

Reggie's opinion on his public speaking:

His passion for public speaking, he says, was inspired by economics and management professor Richard Aplin, for whom he worked as a grader and teaching assistant. “I watched him work incredibly hard to create and then deliver over two years of lectures,” Fils-Aimé says. “Imagine: he had been teaching these classes over a number of years. He knew the material cold – even when new material was added into the curriculum. But he would prepare as if he were delivering the lecture for the very first time. I think this reinforced my focus on preparation and passion for public speaking.”

Work

- Worked as an undergraduate teaching assistant in management and finance.
- Began his career at Procter & Gamble. From 1983-1991 he was in the food and beverage division.
- Senior vice president, Panda Management Co.
- Senior director national marketing, Pizza Hut
- Launched the Bigfoot Pizza
- US marketing chief, Guiness Import Co.
- Oversaw all brands, including Guinness stout, Bass ale, Harp lager and Pilsner Urquell, as well as managing brand relationships with third-party owners in the United Kingdom, Jamaica and the Czech Republic.
- Chief marketing officer, acting managing director UK operations, Derby Cycle Corp.
- Directed worldwide sales and marketing for eight separate brands, including Raleigh, Diamondback and Univega, but also was acting managing director of the company’s United Kingdom operations.
- Senior vice president marketing VH1, MTV Networks, 2001—2003
- Engineered the channel’s redirection to young viewers that resulted in an overall 30 percent rating growth, and he created and executed the marketing plans for The Concert for New York City, which raised more than $35 million for disaster relief in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.
- Executive vice president sales, marketing, Nintendo of America, Inc., 2003—2006
- President and COO, Nintendo of America Inc., Redmond, Washington, 2006—
- Executive Officer, Nintendo Co., Ltd., 2016—

Professional awards include:

- A Clio
- Two Gold EFFIEs
- An AICP award for advertising excellence
- Silver Edison from the American Marketing Institute.
- Named to the Marketing 100 by Advertising Age in 1998

Now you know some more details about Reggie Fils-Aime! I know I learned some things I had no idea about. Pretty cool to see all the places Reggie has been, and how far he's come!