After spending 15 years with Electronic Arts, executive Steven Chiang has left the publisher to join social gaming firm Zynga (FarmVille) as the president of its development studios.

"I am excited that Steven Chiang, a veteran of the video game industry who is strongly regarded for building high-quality games and scaling development teams and operations worldwide, has joined Zynga," said Zynga CEO Mark Pincus in a post on his personal blog.

Prior to Zynga, Chiang spent 15 years at Electronic Arts, where he was most recently senior vice president and group general manager of the company's EA sports division. There, he oversaw the popular Madden NFL series, helped re-launch the EA Sports site, and worked on upcoming online game Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online.

He also co-founded Tiburon Entertainment in 1994 near Orlando Florida. Electronic Arts acquired the development studio in 1998, renamed it EA Tiburon, and set the group to work on many of its franchises based on sports licenses, such as NASCAR, NCAA Football, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour.

With Chiang's departure, EA Sports announced two promotions. Andrew Wilson, who has lead the team's Global Online Group since last fall, will now oversee worldwide development for EA Sports. Pauline Moller, a 13-year veteran with Electronic Arts and most recently general manager of EA Canada, will step into the role of EA Sports's chief operating officer.

"The departure of Steve Chiang allows us to graduate this new generation of creative leadership," says EA Sports president Peter Moore. "Steve helped make a lot of great games with EA, and we understand his wish to try something different after nearly 15 years with the company."

He continues, "Andrew and Pauline represent an evolution in our creative team, they are a reflection of the deep bench of studio talent here at EA Sports, and they will help continue our commitment to the digital transformation of our sports business."