Mark Gerhard (1976)

Mark Michael Gerhard (born 13 July 1976), also known as Mod MMG and Mark Gerhard, is the current CEO of Jagex. His appointment to the position was announced on the 30 January 2009, though he was in the position officially from 1 February 2009.

Before taking over the role as CEO, Gerhard joined Jagex as the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) from 1 February 2008.

On 9 February 2009, soon after his appointment to the position of CEO, Gerhard released an update called The Future of RuneScape. In it he stated that he is "an active RuneScape player," and gave his age as "ever so slightly over 21," which he followed with a smiley. He confirmed that this was a joke a week later, saying he is "definitely well over 21," and that he was actually in his thirties. According to his date of birth, he was 32 years old at the time.

Before Jagex
Gerhard has held many executive positions and he has over 14 years of experience working in many companies in the technology sector. Previously he worked as:
 * Security Architect at GTECH, where he served as the Principal Security Architect for the National Lottery
 * Chief Technical Officer at Ministry of Data
 * Group Systems Manager at Sterling Relocation
 * Chief Operating Officer at Serious
 * Principal Consultant at Chromasonic Computer Centre Ltd
 * IT Director at Hospital I.T. Solutions (Pty) Ltd
 * Security Consultant at Rand Merchant Bank

As Chief Technical Officer (CTO)
Gerhard gave a short account on the RuneScape Forums about how he came to join Jagex as CTO.

As Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
However, since Mark Gerhard became CEO of Jagex, he has stated that non-members will also receive updates in the future. For example, as of April 2009, non-members were permitted access to the RuneScape Forums provided they had 12.5 million total experience. In August 2009, Gerhard confirmed that RuneScape ' s next skill will be for all players (non-members and members).

Mark Gerhard formerly had a public friends chat called "Mod Mmg" where anyone could join and talk. When he went online and joined the chat, he would change the settings so that only ranked players could ask him questions. He later decided to close his friends chat due to players abusing it. This is not the case anymore; as in 2009, he re-opened his friends chat, but no longer ranks players. All players can currently talk in the channel.

He has announced many things in his clan chat. He explained that Jagex are working on a major "forum rewrite". On the RuneScape Forums, Gerhard has also posted that he was considering making Fletching a non-member skill.

He promises new content for higher levels and an update for the Magic skill to balance magic (which he believes is underpowered) with other combat skills.

Gerhard has made promises saying that he will make sure Jagex will become a less secretive company. The "Rants" forum was reinstated under his leadership in March 2009, along with an apology for removing it at all. His arrival also led to Jagex being more open with popular fansites for the first time since Andrew Gower's link with tip.it.

In May 2009, Mark Gerhard was in an interview with MMO Hub.org, in which he mentions a very big surprise update on the horizon. This may have been referring to Dungeoneering (released in April 2010), as that fits with everything he said.

On 30 October 2009, Gerhard collected the Golden Joystick Award on behalf of Jagex, who had been named Amiqus games UK developer of the year.