Mike Rufail

Mike Rufail is the founder and CEO of Envy Gaming, Inc., which owns and operates popular esports franchise Team Envy as well as the Dallas Fuel in the Overwatch League and the Dallas Empire in the Call of Duty League.

Envy began as a professional Call of Duty team in 2007 and has grown into one of the largest and most winning esports groups in the world. Today, Envy teams competes, streams and produces content and events across multiple titles including Overwatch, Call of Duty, CS:GO, Fortnite and Super Smash Bros. In 2016, the NowTV Esports Industry Awards named Envy the Esports Team of the Year.

Born and raised in Lufkin, Texas, Rufail dreamed of bringing a professional esports team home to Texas. In 2017, with the support of investment partners at Hersh Interactive Group, Rufail relocated Envy Gaming operations, staff and players to North Texas. In 2019, Rufail and the Dallas Fuel hosted the first home games in esports history, as thousands of fans attended a two-day, sold out live event in North Texas.

Rufail is a veteran of the esports industry, having spent time as a professional Call of Duty player, a broadcast commentator, a game design consultant, and is the co-founder of Gamer Grip USA, a non-slip antiperspirant formula designed to improve grip on a gaming controller. Envy Gaming is ranked by Forbes as the eighth most valuable esports organization in the world.

Mike Rufail graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2005 with a bachelor of arts in moving image and sound, and currently resides in North Texas with his wife and daughter.