Dr. Ray Pastore Joins ANTE Digital as Co-Founder & Head of Esports Operations
Dr. Ray Pastore in the UNCW esports lab — now Co-Founder & Head of Esports Operations at ANTE Digital.
ANTE Digital is proud to announce that Dr. Ray Pastore has joined the company as Co-Founder and Head of Esports Operations. Few people in the country understand competitive gaming — the players, the programs, the infrastructure, and the culture — as deeply as Ray does. His arrival is a defining moment for our mission to build the vertically integrated American esports stack.
Ray isn’t someone who discovered esports when it got popular. He has spent over a decade in the trenches of collegiate competition — turning programs into powerhouses, building the labs players train in, and shaping the next generation of competitors and creators.
From the Lab to the Arena
Dr. Pastore is a Full Professor of Instructional Technology at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW), where he serves as the Program Coordinator for Esports and the faculty advisor for the Seahawk Esports Club. Under his leadership, UNCW esports grew from a student club into a competitive collegiate program — fielding varsity teams in titles like Valorant and Rocket League and competing in the National Esports Collegiate Conference (NECC).
That growth wasn’t an accident. Ray secured roughly $300,000 in funding to build out UNCW’s esports lab and program, and forged hardware partnerships with Lenovo and Dell/Alienware to give players a real competitive home. His work building that program was significant enough to become the subject of the documentary Game On UNCW: Esports + Education.
Built a Collegiate Esports Powerhouse
Grew UNCW esports from a student club into a competitive varsity program, fielding teams in Valorant and Rocket League competing in the National Esports Collegiate Conference (NECC).
Funded & Built the Arena
Secured roughly $300,000 to build out UNCW’s esports lab and program, with hardware partnerships from Lenovo and Dell/Alienware to give players a true competitive home.
Program Architect
Coordinator of UNCW’s Esports program and faculty advisor for the Seahawk Esports Club — designing the curriculum, structure, and culture behind a thriving collegiate scene.
Creator & Broadcaster
A longtime YouTuber with millions of views, Ray understands the streamer and content economy from the inside — the exact ecosystem ANTEBroadcast is built to serve.
A Researcher Who Understands Competition
Ray holds a Ph.D. in Instructional Systems from Penn State University, and his academic work goes straight to the heart of what makes competitive gaming tick. His research spans player performance, game design, and the psychology of competition — including studies on anxiety in competitive versus casual players and the use of AI in collegiate esports practice.
With nearly 30 peer-reviewed publications, faculty appointments at Penn State, Slippery Rock, and beyond, and recognition as an esports and gaming expert by outlets like Wired, The Ringer, NBC, and MarketWatch, Ray brings a rare combination to ANTE: the credibility of an academic and the instincts of someone who has actually run teams, built programs, and lived the competitive grind.
“I am excited to be part of a project that aims to support the esports ecosystem and focuses on both players and content creators.”
— Dr. Ray Pastore, Co-Founder & Head of Esports Operations, ANTE Digital
Why This Matters for ANTE
ANTE is building a platform where competitive gamers can play for real stakes with verifiable fairness — backed by server-side verification, regulated payments, and a sovereign American infrastructure spine. Doing that right takes more than engineering. It takes a deep understanding of how competition actually works: how players train, what keeps them coming back, what fairness means to them, and how communities and programs are built from the ground up.
That is exactly what Ray brings. As Head of Esports Operations, his experience building collegiate programs, his research into player performance and integrity, and his connections across the esports world will shape everything from how we design competitive formats to how we grow the player and creator communities ANTE depends on.
The Team Is Growing. So Is the Vision.
Four IPs, one sovereign spine, and now one of collegiate esports' most respected builders in the room. Join the waitlist and be part of what's next.
Welcome, Ray.
We couldn't be more excited to have him on the team. The future of competitive gaming is being built in America — and now it's being built with one of collegiate esports' most respected minds in the room.
Welcome to ANTE Digital, Dr. Pastore.