Kevin McCoy and Simon Sparks to host roundtable at GamesIndustry.biz HR Summit 2025

Next Jump’s Kevin McCoy and GameDataCore’s Simon Sparks will be hosting a roundtable at this week’s GamesIndustry.biz HR Summit.

Titled ‘Level Up or Get Left Behind: How to Win When You’re Short on People, Resources, Time, and Money,’ McCoy and Sparks will discuss the practical tools such as resetting your feedback environment and creating a coaching culture.

McCoy co-founded e-commerce and employee benefits technology company Next Jump in 1997. He founded the firm’s Cambridge, Massachusetts office before joining its UK operation in 2010 as managing director.

He recently led the implementation of Next Jump’s coaching programs with the UK Royal Navy – which is being used as a case study during the roundtable – and is head of the firm’s global finance and operations team.

Sparks is co-founder and COO of GameDataCore, which provides games industry intelligence. He is also a culture consultant, partnering with Next Jump coaches and has coached with the UK Navy.

“I am excited to share this case study and how I am implementing the same principles inside a new startup right now, feedback as creative infrastructure, individual ego work first, then team cadence and metrics,” said Sparks.

“When you get those pieces aligned, momentum stops being luck.”

McCoy and Sparks join the lineup of speakers attending the GamesIndustry.biz HR summit this Thursday (October 2), including Fresh Seed’s Sarah Brewster, Skillfull’s Gina Jackson and Amiqus’ Liz Prince, as well as Sega Europe’s chief people officer Nicky Ormrod alongside Simon Court and Dan Bobby of Value Partnership.

The event will take place at The Royal Institution in London, and tickets for the event (which includes entry to the Best Places to Work Awards) can be found here.