LA Gladiators promote Brenda Suh to general manager

Brenda Suh has been named the new general manager of the Los Angeles Gladiators for the upcoming Overwatch League season, the franchise announced today. The Gladiators promoted her as part of its rebuilding effort following a disappointing Overwatch League season in 2020.

Suh formerly served as the director of operations for the Gladiators’ parent company, Kroenke Sports and Entertainment Esports, who own and operate both the Gladiators Overwatch team and the Guerillas Call of Duty team. She managed operations for both franchises throughout their 2020 competitive seasons.

Prior to holding that position, Suh served as the competitive manager for the Guangzhou Charge throughout the 2019 OWL season. She’ll remain the director of operations with the Guerrillas but will face a new challenge as the GM for the Gladiators next year.

Before Suh’s promotion, David “dpei” Pei served as both the head coach and general manager of the Gladiators for three years. In that dual role, dpei found a reasonable level of success, but being the GM and head coach of a team is a lot of responsibility for a single person. With Suh taking over his GM responsibilities, dpei should be freed up to focus on the competitive success of his team in 2021.

The Gladiators are coming off a bit of a disappointing season. They finished with their lowest placing yet, ending their season outside the top-five ranked teams for the first time since the Overwatch League began.

At the conclusion of their 2020 season, the team made some significant roster changes. The Gladiators cut six players from its lineup in October, removing Aaron “Bischu” Kim, Jason “Jaru” White, Benjamin “BigG99se” Isohanni, Jonas “Shaz” Souvarra, Roni “LhCloudy” Tiihonen, and Min-Seok “OGE” Son. L.A. also released assistant coach James “Fastus” Frye and strategic coach Rohit “CurryShot” Nathani from its coaching staff.

With a new general manager in place, the Gladiators will likely start signing some players in the near future. With only four active players left on its squad, L.A. has no other choice than to sign a significant number of free agents in the coming weeks and months.