Julian Paul Raines (April 4, 1964^[1] – March 4, 2018) was the CEO of GameStop, the largest retailer of video games worldwide, from 2010 to 2017.^[2]

Early life and education

Raines was born in 1964 in Costa Rica and raised in Atlanta, Georgia as an only child.^[3] His mother, of Costa Rican descent, worked as a secretary and occasional translator, and his father, a Vietnam War veteran, became a district manager for a major convenience store operator, after a career in the United States Navy. Raines spent his summers in Costa Rica visiting his grandmother.^[3] In 1985, Raines graduated from Georgia Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial engineering and a minor in Spanish language.

Career

Raines worked for 10 years at Kurt Salmon, 4 years at L.L.Bean, followed by 8 years at The Home Depot, where he was executive vice president for U.S. stores and president of the more than 2,000-store Southern division.^[3] There, in 2005, he prepared for Hurricane Katrina by preparing extra supplies and generators to run the stores in the storm's strike zone.^[4]

He joined GameStop as COO in 2008, became CEO in June 2010, and stepped down due to brain cancer in November 2017.^[5]

He received total compensation of $9.1 million in 2015 and $7.8 million in 2016.^[6]

Raines was a member of the board of directors of GameStop, J.C. Penney, and Advance Auto Parts.

Personal life

Raines was married to Claudia, a native of Chile, and had two children: Victoria and Julian. In 2008, they moved to Southlake, Texas.^[1] To understand his customers and to have fun, Raines played video games for 4 hours each week.^[7]

Raines funded scholarships for Hispanic students at Georgia Tech and created GameStop's Gamer Fund to help employees in times of need.^[8]

Raines was first diagnosed with brain cancer in 2014 and died of the illness on March 4, 2018.^[3][9]