Patricia Vance

Who is Patricia Vance?

Patricia Vance was appointed president and CEO of the Entertainment Software Rating Board in November 2002. Vance is responsible for overseeing and enforcing the computer and video game industry's self-regulatory practices. This includes ensuring that video game consumers and parents have effective tools with which to make educated purchase decisions.

Upon taking the helm of the ESRB, Vance oversaw a re-tooling of the organization which kept it from remaining in the crosshairs of anti-games legislators. She is best known due to the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas "Hot Coffee" incident in 2005 where the publisher of the game failed to submit all of the content programmed into the product. Following an investigation by ESRB the game was re-rated from "M" to "AO," causing retailers to effectively impose a recall of the game as they generally choose to not sell AO-rated games. The incident became a flashpoint around which critics of the industry and the ratings board rallied and legislators across the country began introducing anti-games legislation.

Before joining the ESRB, Vance spent 18 years at Disney/ABC, with responsibility for leveraging ABC properties in the development and management of a broad range of new media and market initiatives. These initiatives included the Internet, interactive entertainment and educational software publishing, direct response videocassette marketing, in-flight entertainment, home video and cable television.