GSN snatches up former Zynga chief marketing officer

One refugee of the mass exodus of Zynga execs has found a new home. Former Zynga chief marketing officer Jeff Karp is now the executive vice president of mobile and social games for GSN, a cause game web site that gives away prizes to tournament winners.

Karp will run GSN’s virtual currency game businesses at the Waltham, Mass.-based GSN and report to Peter Blacklow, who runs GSN Digital.

Karp comes to GSN Digital from Zynga, which has had trouble hanging on to executives in the wake of a stock price fall and a weak earnings report. Before that, Karp was the executive vice president of the Play Label at Electronic Arts.

“Jeff has an impressive track record in building some of the most popular businesses at both Zynga and EA,” said Blacklow. “We are thrilled to attract someone of Jeff’s caliber to GSN as we expand our virtual currency offering and enhance our player experience across platforms.”

Karp added, “I am very excited to join the GSN team, which has already built leading cross-platform virtual currency game businesses, including the GSN Casino mobile app, the Games by GSN Facebook app, and the virtual casino on GSN.com. I am eager to help GSN take these businesses to new levels of success.”

Karp will start on Sept. 24 in the company’s San Francisco office. GSN has its own original TV game shows as well as a casual prize games business.