Melissa O’Farrell is the Senior Director of Consumer Insights at Zynga, a global leader in interactive entertainment whose mission is to connect the world through games. To date, more than one billion people have played Zynga’s franchises including CSR Racing™, Empires & Puzzles™, Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells™, Merge Dragons!™,Merge Magic!™,Toon Blast™, Toy Blast™, Words With Friends™ and Zynga Poker™.
She joined Zynga in September 2015 and is responsible for a team of subject-matter experts who help shape consumer and product strategies that lead to better business outcomes across the portfolio, through thoughtful data collection and analysis, strong partnerships and creative problem solving. She believes in the power of meaningful work and loves being in an industry that sparks joy for people all over the world.
Passionate about people and games, Melissa has 17 years of experience in interactive entertainment. Prior to Zynga, she held research roles at LucasArts, Sega, Electronic Arts and Kabam and has had the privilege of working on numerous top entertainment brands including Star Wars, Marvel, Game of Thrones and Harry Potter.
Melissa received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, with a minor in Ethnic Studies, from the University of California at Berkeley and a first-year Fellowship in the Master’s Program in English from Boston College.