Lord of the Rings Online developer Turbine has hired an online vet as VP of operations, the Westwood, Mass.-based studio announced Monday.

Ken Surdan comes to Turbine following executive roles at TripAdvisor Media Network, SmartBargains.com and National Leisure Group, an online travel company. According to his LinkedIn business profile, he joined Turbine in November last year.

He'll be applying his expertise to the world of online gaming by overseeing worldwide network operations, project management and customer service at Turbine.

In a press release Surdan said, "Our plans are to literally play a category leading role in how tomorrow’s systems are built and monitored to support these massive, interactive, transaction-based environments."