Preston
Swincher
is a business process engineer, gameplay designer and entrepreneur in Seattle, Washington.
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He is the founding CEO of Vigilante Gastropub and Games, acclaimed public speaker, and built the largest, ongoing D&D megagame in the world.
About Me.
Hello! I'm Preston Swincher. I've built a career around bringing compelling brands to life through storytelling and by helping companies design processes that retain key employees and better serve customers. My early career as an independent consultant and public speaker exposed me to many industries and amazing private and public sector organizations (some very small, and some very large) that inspired me to build my community: Vigilante Gastropub & Games.
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Vigilante's unique customer service experience has made it the highest grossing full-service restaurant devoted to board games in Texas. I crafted a high-touch customer service environment that matches people with and teaches them board games. Our work in training staff on how to "find the fun" in baord games gave me a deep appreciation for game design, leading me to craft bespoke megagame team building experiences for our clientele.
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It also led me to develop the largest, in-person Dungeons and Dragons megagame in the country, creating hundreds of weekly subscribers that are drawn to our specialized method of shared world storytelling. As a life-long Dungeon Master and TTRPG organizer, my passion for coaching and helping Dungeon Masters grew from my work with actors in the theatre and as a nationally competitive spoken word artist.
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Vigilante also gave me the opportunity to embrace automation and process design, eventually leading me to crafting apps to give us better data and management tools for our business. Leveraging web apps in nodejs, typescript, Airtable automations, slack development, Twilio, Asana and data integration, our unique management platform gives my team real time data to make critical operational decisions to drive profitability.
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Learning software development while engaging in intense interactive storytelling projects has pointed me to my next career step: working with companies that engage in storytelling through gameplay, either through video games or supporting companies that create analog gameplay experience.
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Today, I'm studying software development, data analysis, project management and participating as a dev in Game Jams to transition into a new industry. My unique background in entertainment, building successful customer experiences and assisting companies uniquely positions me to be a crucial contributor to game design teams, either as a producer, product manager, or game designer.
Work Experience
2020-Current
Director of Ops
Vigilante Gastropub & Games
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Collaborated with senior management to implement long term sales, ops and marketing goals
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Drove cross-team development of new F&B products and collateral to fuel a monthly marketing cadence
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Took ownership of new software features, implementing technology standards and workflows
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Monitored and learned new digital development tools to build custom applications
2017-2020
General Manager
Vigilante Gastropub & Games
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Oversaw day to day restaurant operations, achieving profitability two years after opening
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Designed steps of service and training materials for our signature “Game Sommelier” full service model
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Set cost and budget goals for labor and purchasing to ensure financial health of the restaurant
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Directed hiring, training and ongoing performance evaluations to ensure all teams teams executed in accordance with company policy and local health regulations
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Pivoted food, beverage and service product offerings based on patron feedback and point of sale data to grow a dedicated audience of regulars
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Data analysis in R and GAS to guide day-to-day menu design decisions for F&B profitability
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Drove projects forward in unexplored product spaces, identifying market opportunities to drive new sales by reaching new audiences
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Worked closely with game, food, beverage and event creatives to form a unified patron experience
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Identified and prioritized opportunities for process improvements while maintaining daily duties
2007-2010
Founding CEO
Vigilante Gastropub & Games
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Built a business plan and pro forma financials to negotiate and raise over $450,000 in funding from local investors and $125,000 in the first nationally crowd-funded loan for a bar/restaurant
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Facilitated design and build project timelines and budgets by aligning cross functional teams, including contractors, architects, investors, legal, engineers, and opening restaurant staff
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Ensured pre-opening project strategies aligned with company vision, effectively communicating that vision to stakeholders to create a clear value proposition through opening
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Communicated operating results to investment teams, generating presentations and visuals to clarify business challenges and opportunities
2011 - 2017
Public Speaker and Consultant
Independent
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Gave keynote speeches for audiences of up to 5,000 individuals, ranging from school districts to the Fortune 50, including Ford-Lincoln, Marriott, and the USAF
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Facilitated strategy sessions for mid level to executive level management
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Reviewed key business processes with clients, identifying opportunities for improvement to better align outcomes with desired KPIs
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Tailored actionable insight to address workplace issues as detailed by clients and prepared workshops grounded in their greatest opportunities for improvement
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Brainstormed unique approaches to cultural events for team writing around sensitive topics
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Coached and worked alongside diverse casts of writers and performers, applying proven storytelling techniques to a broad range of lived experiences to help creatives find their most authentic voice
Education and Prof. Dev.
2005-2009
Dual Degrees
Texas Christian University
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Bachelors in Business Admin., Emphasis in Entrepreneurial Management, Cum Laude, Honors
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Bachelors in Fine Arts, emphasis Musical Theatre Performance, Cum Laude
2024
Data Analytics Google Professional Certificate
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Data analysis project design
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Data driven decision making
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R, SQL and Tableau
Other Accomplishments
2023 - 2024
Video Game Jams
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Ring Rascals, Narrative Designer: dystopian world building, bark writing for fight announcer commentary, voice over writing, implemented adaptive commentary in C# in Unity
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Bonsaidle, Narrative Designer: designed character archetypes, wrote branching character dialogue, coded dialogue to adapt to game state, implemented Inkle in C# in Unity
2009-2017
Spoken Word Artist
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Invited to perform with the Austin Poetry Slam National team in Decatur, GA
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Rated one of the performing poets in Austin, Texas
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Hosted and co-hosted numerous events across Texas
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Coached performing poets on style, presentation and writing
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Wrote numerous pieces, including a self-published book
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Competed across the country in poetry slam invitationals