We are people who like to have fun! Our work is positively influencing the world through the video games we make and publish. We believe good entertainment can connect people of all ages and help build understanding throughout the world.
Who We Are Today
Hyper Hippo is a proud member of Canada’s Creative Industry, partnering with some of the best minds in the video games industry around the world. We are passionate about creating original IP and connecting people around the world through fun. Our growing teams are located in Kelowna, Vancouver, Halifax and Seattle. Our games have been played by millions and millions of players around the globe.
A Brief Hippo History
Hyper Hippo started as a Canadian company in the beautiful city of Kelowna, British Columbia. Many of the team members came from drawing penguins and puffles at Club Penguin, an IP created by our founder, Lance Priebe.
Originally our Kelowna team was formed to create one game. We spent a lot of time on that one game… unfortunately, not many people liked it.
We knew there must be a better way to build games than to spend 2 years on a project no one liked to play. To accomplish this, we set off in a new direction, creating games in a lean development environment.
Our goal was to create game ideas quickly, and test these ideas with real players. We believed if players told us the game was good, then we had something into which we could invest our time and skill. It worked! And now we continue to build new game ideas, forming teams to focus on genres and areas of specialty.
We expanded beyond our Kelowna roots, and now we have team members working with us in Vancouver, Seattle, Halifax, Montreal and Omaha. Our goal is to create new games for players of all ages, and through our games we hope to connect players around the world. We have also expanded from game development to sharing our experience in publishing and community management through our new arm, Screenzilla Entertainment. Be sure to check out all our teams and what they are working on by clicking through on their website links on the What We Do page.
Our Team
Our people make our organization tick! Every individual on our team is just that – an individual! Each employee has a talent, skill set and unique characteristic that lends to our culture. We are very protective of this culture because we know it’s what makes working here so great! Get to know our team and our culture by reading a little about who we are, below.
Lance Priebe
CEO
Lance Priebe
CEO
Lance (or RocketSnail as many know him to be) is our lead hippo, mountain man and the visionary behind our organization. Lance has been developing online worlds since he was a child, creating his first virtual world in 2000 called Penguin Chat and later co-founding and creating Club Penguin in 2005. In Lance’s spare time, he likes to work or as he would likely phrase it, “pursue his passions!”
This guy is known for “working” from some pretty unique locations, with a few of the most interesting being the mountains, ski hills and even during his daily biking adventures. He creates ALWAYS and loves that he gets to be a part of an organization that connects people around the world through fun!
Sam Fisher
President
Sam Fisher
President
Sam is the President here at Hyper Hippo Productions and his key focus is to support our business by bringing together amazing talent and encouraging creativity. Prior to working with our organization, Sam worked as an Executive in Residence (EiR) at Accelerate Okanagan and a long, long time ago, he earned his MBA at Ivey School of Business – in other words, he knows his stuff, is passionate about tech and is constantly diving deep to learn more about the industry so that he can better guide our teams in creating successful games.
Fun Fact, Sam doesn’t like bananas…like, at all. Ask him why sometime; it’s a pretty intriguing story. Aside from his distaste for bananas, Sam LIKES to play sports and enjoys music of all sorts, and his favourite activity is anything he can do with his family.
Jen Kilback
Chief of Business Operations
Jen Kilback
Chief of Business Operations
Jennifer is our Chief of Business Operations and ‘in-house’ pie maker. In addition to her stellar culinary skills, Jennifer’s day to day involves leading our HR, Accounting, Studio/Facilities & Legal divisions, otherwise known as Team Services. Jen is a fearless leader not just for our team, but for our entire company, encouraging growth within our organization, bringing shiny new ideas and encouraging her team to colour outside the lines.
Originally from PEI, Jennifer loves anything to do with the outdoors, hiking and biking… not to mention her mad softball skills. Being an avid traveller and adventurer gives Jen a unique perspective to how she leads, allowing those that work alongside her, a chance to share in the daily adventures at the Hyper Hippo studio.
Lesley Olson
Facilities Management | Team Support
Lesley Olson
Facilities Management | Team Support
Lesley oversees the day to day operations of Hyper Hippo’s facilities. Ensuring that the office is running smoothly and looking its best is something that Lesley excels at and takes major pride in. We’ve termed her our “office ninja” because she also works to support & facilitate the various studios and teams with administrative tasks. If you were to ask her what one of her favourite aspects of her job would be, she’d say, “I only get to pick one?”
When not hanging out at the Hyper Hippo headquarters, Lesley is usually sitting on her deck reading a book, riding her bike or sipping a London Fog at Starbucks.
Allison Francis
Finance & Accounting Manager
Allison Francis
Finance & Accounting Manager
Allison is our Finance & Accounting Manager and if you aren’t really sure what that means, then simply put, she rocks the numbers. Allison oversees financial reporting, budgeting, cash flows, taxes and much more for all of Hyper Hippo Productions
studios.
When she’s not being an accounting mastermind, Allison likes to spend time collecting calculators, labelling everything in her reach with her trusty label maker and hanging out with her golden retriever, Honey.
Ask Allison why she loves working for Hyper Hippo and she’ll say she loves how our culture embraces creativity & collaboration – every week is a different challenge and an opportunity to learn something new!
Jason Bonnie
Accountant
Jason Bonnie
Accountant
Jason is our accounting rockstar! This guy keeps everyone happy by seeing that they get paid. Sure, he may always be surrounded by mountains of paperwork, but for a guy that scaled the Schilthorn in the Swiss Alps in a pair of $15 sneakers (what?!), he is more than up to the challenge. Jason is a major asset to the team here at Hyper Hippo, working to ensure our studios & publisher are supported through financial reporting.
If that isn’t enough, he further supports his team & those around him through his knowledge. He currently holds a management degree, accounting certificate and is very soon going to hold his CPA designation. What’s next, Jason, a doctorate? Stay tuned to find out…
Lisa Fletcher
HR - People & Culture
Lisa Fletcher
HR - People & Culture
Websters Dictionary defines Human Resources as… woah, hold up – Lisa is anything but a generic definition of a Human Resources manager. Lisa believes in fostering an amazing community and works to support an environment that focuses on People & Culture. She’s the culture protector! Putting the Human back into Human Resources and finding the elusive balance between the necessary HR processes and what the teams ‘need’.
If Lisa isn’t putting on events and entertaining, you can find her in her garden, glamping with her family…or Netflixing it up in the winter months.
Become a Hippo!
We pride ourselves on building a team out of strong, collaborative leaders. It works! If you’re tired of being just an employee number, come be a part of something awesome with us.
Join The Team
