Oni Press has announced that respected industry veteran Sam Kusek has joined the company’s management team as Director of Business Development. In his newly created role, Kusek will oversee the company’s programming and operational strategy for crowdfunding platforms, including Kickstarter, the growth of Oni’s ecommerce footprint, and the further development of Oni’s inbound and outbound licensing programs across comics and graphic novels, tabletop and video games, merchandise and collectibles, and more. 

Kusek most recently served as Senior Outreach Lead for Kickstarter, where he oversaw the launch of more than 1,200 comic book and graphic novel campaigns, helping globally recognized publishers and independent creators of all shapes and sizes bring their projects to life. Kusek came to Kickstarter from BOOM! Studios, where he previously served as Special Projects Manager and oversaw nearly $6 million in crowdfunding-driven pre-order initiatives with partners including Alcon Entertainment, Hasbro, the Jim Henson Company, and more. Prior to BOOM!, Kusek also served as Operations Manager for Tiny Onion, where he helped coordinate merchandising and specialty collectibles for multiple Eisner Award-winning creator James Tynion IV’s signature publishing imprint. With previous experience that also includes editorial, events, and retail within the comics industry, Kusek also owns and operates Cave of Monsters Games, a boutique tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) publisher based out of Portland, OR.