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Speakers
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Rich Taylor, a former senior executive with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and aide to Congressman Jim Chapman (D-TX), is the Entertainment Software Association’s (ESA) new Senior Vice President for Communications and Research. Taylor served as a Senior Vice President for the MPAA, the global voice and advocate of the American motion picture, home video and television industries. During his tenure with MPAA, Taylor was the overall head of the organization’s communications department under former MPAA President Jack Valenti. In that capacity, he was responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Motion Picture Association of America’s press and communications efforts, while serving as the primary spokesman and senior strategist for the American motion picture industry. Prior to joining MPAA, Taylor was a Senior Associate with Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide in Washington, DC. While there, Taylor spearheaded a number of national campaigns on behalf of agency clients. The ESA is the U.S. association dedicated to serving the business and public affairs needs of the companies publishing interactive games for video game consoles, handheld devices, personal computers, and the Internet. ESA members collectively account for more than 90 percent of the $7.4 billion in entertainment software sales in the U.S. in 2006, and billions more in export sales of entertainment software. For more information about the ESA, please visit www.theESA.com. |
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 Dr. Ian Bogost is a videogame designer, critic, and researcher. He is Assistant Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Founding Partner at Persuasive Games LLC. His research and writing considers videogames as an expressive medium, and his creative practice focuses on games about social and political issues.
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 SUE BOHLE, APR, Fellow PRSA
Sue Bohle is a highly regarded public relations professional who has been providing hands on, senior level counsel to game and other interactive entertainment companies since 1983. She has been the lead speaker on PR for the game industry at the The Game Developers Conference (GDC) six times and the author of the marketing chapter for a new textbook on getting into the video game industry.
Sue started her career at Burson-Marsteller, the world's largest public relations agency. She was then hired by the J. Walter Thompson Co. to help the firm develop a PR presence in Los Angeles. Within three years, she became JWT's first vice president on the West Coast and a year later, the first woman in Los Angeles to be named general manager of an office of an international PR firm. Later, she also headed the Los Angeles office of Ketchum Communications. She founded The Bohle Company in 1979.
Throughout its existence, The Bohle Company has won numerous PR awards, including two Silver Anvils, a Bronze Award from Paul Holmes and its winning REpism award was voted “Best of Show” by the Los Angeles Chapter of PRSA.
In 1991, Sue was elected to the College of Fellows, PRSA, an honor bestowed on less than one percent of PR professionals judged to be role models in the industry. She later served as secretary/treasurer, chair elect and chair of this prestigious organization.
In 1999, Sue was named one of the “Top 50 Most Powerful Women in PR” by PR Week trade magazine. In 2001, it was noted that she was one of 37 women heading Top 100 PR agencies.
Sue has held various positions for the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). She is a past chairman of the Counselors Academy, a national organization of heads of agencies; past president of the Los Angeles Chapter, PRSA; and currently serves on the PRSA National Board. An expert in marketing PR and crisis communications, Sue is quoted frequently in textbooks on PR.
Sue holds both a bachelor's and master's degree from Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University. In 1997, she was named a charter member of Medill’s Hall of Achievement, honoring alumni who have become leaders in their professions. |
 Blake Lewin is vp, media and entertainment platforms for Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (TBS, Inc.) Platform R&D Group. Lewin is the inventor of GameTap, Turner's first broadband entertainment network, and was responsible for its design and development. He was executive producer on Cyan Worlds' Myst Online:URU Live and on TBS virtual worlds launched within Kaneva; has filed three patents for Turner on iTV and broadband systems; has led the production and management of web and interactive TV applications on various emerging platforms over the past 17 years; and has licensed and produced CD-ROMs and games such as Hell Cab, Dinotopia, The Pagemaster and Carl Sagan's Murmurs of Earth. Early in his career, Lewin was a musician with a Bachelor of Arts degree in music composition, a minor in electronic music, and an associate’s degree in audio technology from Indiana University. Lewin worked for inventor Emmett Chapman (The Chapman Stick), did transcriptions for artists such as Frank Zappa and Allan Holdsworth, and served as music coordinator for major motion pictures, including Thelma and Louise, Company Business and Man In The Moon. |
 Andrew Greenberg, best known for designing computer games and roleplaying games, co-created the “Fading Suns” roleplaying and computer games, recently developed “Rapture d20,” and was the original developer of White Wolf’s “Vampire: The Masquerade.” He has credits on more than 50 White Wolf products and more than 20 HDI books. He has also worked on products with other roleplaying game companies, including “Star Trek Next Generation” and “Deep Space Nine.” His computer game credits include Dracula Unleashed, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, Emperor of the Fading Suns, Warhammer 40K: Final Liberation, Merchant Prince II, Mall Tycoon, Dungeon Lords, and more. He began teaching game design at the Art Institute of Atlanta in 2006, and serves on the International Game Developers Association Curriculum Committee. He regularly writes for publications as diverse as Prick Magazine and the Matthew Bender legal reference series. Very active with a variety of causes and organizations, in 2006 he co-chaired both the Environmental Design Research Association and Mythic Journeys conventions in Atlanta, and coordinated the Human Forum in Puerto Rico. |
 Asante Bradford is the Digital Entertainment Liaison for the Georgia Film, Music and Video division of the Georgia Department of Economic Development. Asante will help promote the growth of the video game industry as well as identify initiatives that will help grow businesses for the state of Georgia in video game development, film & music. He will also help educate potential prospects and clients information about the Georgia Entertainment Industry Incentives Act. |
 BENN R. KONSYNSKI is the George S. Craft Professor of Business Administration for Decision & Information Analysis. He arrived at the Goizueta Business School in 1993 following seven years on the faculty at the Harvard Business School where he taught in the MBA program and several executive programs. Prior to arriving at the Harvard Business School, he was a professor at the University of Arizona, where he was co-founder of the university's multi-million dollar group decision support laboratory. He was named Hewlett Fellow at the Carter Center in 1995. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Purdue University. Professor Konsynski specializes in issues of digital commerce and information technology in relationships across organizations. |
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 Bill Bridges is an MMO game designer at CCP NA | White Wolf. He is the co-creator of the "Fading Suns" science fiction game universe, and is the lead designer of the award-winning Storytelling system rules for all of White Wolf's World of Darkness games. He designed and developed the award-winning games "Mage: The Awakening" and "Promethean: The Created", and developed "Werewolf: the Apocalypse". His novels include "The Silver Crown" and "Last Battle". He has also written for Chaosium, and helped develop Last Unicorn's "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" roleplaying games. He co-wrote the scripts for Viacom's interactive horror movie "Dracula Unleashed", Interplay's "Starfleet Academy", and contributed to world design for Segasoft's "Emperor of the Fading Suns". He is an advisor for the Mythic Imagination Institute and co-chairs the content committee for Atlanta's Mythic Journeys conferences.
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 Bill Thompson
Deputy Commissioner - Georgia Film, Music & Digital Entertainment
Office Georgia Department of Economic Development
Bill Thompson is a Deputy Commissioner at the Georgia Department of Economic Development. He is head of the Georgia Film, Music & Digital Entertainment division of the department. Bill is responsible for developing marketing and sales strategies that will grow and enhance Georgia’s entertainment industries in the areas of film, television, music and video games.
A communications industry veteran with over 30 years experience in the film, video, music, and television arenas, Bill has worked in 25 countries on four continents and in 44 U.S. states. His clients have included television networks, Hollywood studios, advertising agencies, production companies, record labels, institutions and Fortune 100, 300 & 500 corporations. Bill was very involved in numerous projects during the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta and in 2005 produced several projects for the Brand Atlanta campaign, Coca-Cola and General Electric. He has served as Vice President of Production at Atlanta ‘s Threshold Productions, and held positions of Director of Production Services and Vice President of Post Production during 14 years at Crawford Communications in Atlanta.
Bill was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1998 for producing the Georgia Music Hall of Fame Awards show, and has won an MTV music video award, several Telly Awards, a Cable Atlanta ‘Best Original Series’ Award and an International Television Association Award. He is a member of numerous professional organizations including the Georgia Production Partnership, Media Communications Association International, IMAGE Film/Video Center, Women in Film and Television, the Association of Film Commissioners International, and is on the Board of Governors of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the Georgia State University Alumni Board of Directors, and the Entertainment Society Board of the Technology Association of Georgia. He received the Outstanding Alumnus of the Year Award from Georgia State University in 2001 and is a past Board member of the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival and The Atlanta Film Festival.
Bill’s personal work has been seen on NOVA, HBO, Frontline, CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC, Lifetime, National Geographic, VH-1, Georgia Public Broadcasting, MTV, VH-1, and other broadcast and cable outlets. He has worked with numerous celebrities and artists including the Rolling Stones, Bob Hope, TLC, Kansas, Bill Cosby, U2, the Talking Heads, former President Jimmy Carter, Elton John, Hank Aaron, and others.
Bill holds both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Communications from Georgia State University. He and his wife Nena, also a communications industry veteran, live in Decatur with their yellow lab, Buddy. |
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Associate Dean, School of Technology, DeVry University.
Dean Burnside has been an engineer, accountant, soldier, banker, teacher, entrepreneur, and now a Dean at a national University. His interest in gaming predates pc’s and consoles! The first game he wrote was an auto-play (not interactive) horse race, written in COBOL that ran on an IBM mainframe. Bob now leads the Bachelor of Science Degree in Game and Simulation Programming at DeVry University for the Atlanta area. Dean Burnside is dedicated to assisting students into becoming effective game developers. |
 As Lead Game Designer for Cartoon Network’s Games Studio, Brad Merritt has designed and directed dozens of games for CartoonNetwork.com and AdultSwim.com. While working in the web design industry, Brad started creating Flash games in 1999. He lives with his wife in Atlanta, where he is the organizer of the Atlanta Game Developer Meetup and has served as a guest instructor at the Art Institute of Atlanta. |
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A 25 year veteran of the video game industry, Brenda Brathwaite is an award-winning game designer and professor of game development and interactive design at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia. She has worked on 22 internationally known titles, including Def Jam: Icon, Playboy: The Mansion, Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes, the award-winning Wizardry series and the award-winning Jagged Alliance series of video games. |
 Celia Pearce has been designing and writing about interactive media, attractions and games since 1983. She is the author of The Interactive Book: A Guide to the Interactive Revolution (Macmillan 1997), as well as numerous papers and articles on game design and culture. She received her Ph.D. in 2006 at the SMARTLab Centre, then located at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London. She currently holds a position as Assistant Professor in the School of Literature, Communication and Culture at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she directs the Experimental Game Lab and the Emergent Game Group. She is co-founder of Ludica, a women’s game collective and co-editor/author, along with Ron Meiners, of the Virtual Cultures blog . She is also festival chair for Indiecade, an upcoming festival of independent games. |
 Chris Rickwood is an award winning composer known for creating dramatic musical scores for video games, film, and television. Rickwood’s work can be heard worldwide on a variety of mediums for clients such as Activision, THQ, Microsoft, Cartoon Network, Capcom, and Nintendo. He began his career by composing intense orchestral cues for several game titles including Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom, Evil Dead: Hail to the King, BloodRayne, and Maximo: Ghosts to Glory. Since then, Rickwood has composed over 20 scores for Cartoon Network New Media, contributed music and sound for several PC games including Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Civil War: Bull Run, and The Apprentice: Los Angeles, and experimented with other gaming mediums such as mobile phones and video poker machines. In 2006, Rickwood was invited to the team of composers hired to produce the new Monday Night Football theme for ESPN. More of his music was released on Associated Production Music’s Endgame music library and has been placed in television broadcasts for ABC Family, G4TV, Comedy Central, and Fox. Currently, Rickwood is working on several projects including Hi-Rez Studio’s spy-fi MMO, Global Agenda, a next generation RPG for Microsoft, and other titles coming to XBox 360, PS3, and the Wii. |
 CHUK Vinson
Art Director
Hi-Rez Studios
CHUK directs the art pipeline and art style for Global Agenda™, assuring that all art meets gameplay requirements while maintaining a consistent Global Agenda style. His responsibilities include developing concept art, overall art direction, pipeline architecture, art integration, art systems development, and oversight of advertising art materials. He also creates many of the Special Effects used in Global Agenda. While playing the game, Chuk enjoys wreaking havoc with strange and exciting new character builds and wailing on people in melee. Prior to joining Hi-Rez Studios, Chuk worked on Unreal 2, Wizards & Warriors and Dungeon Lords at Heuristic Park. Some of his favorite games include Guardian Heroes, Starcraft, the Soul Calibur Series (especially IV), Diablo II, and Castle Crashers. Other interests include beer, PC games, art, food and beer. Chuk holds a BFA in computer Art from the Savannah College of Art and Design.
Little known fact: According to legend, Chuk can only be finally killed by a stake through the heart, immersion in holy water, beheading, and a healing spell cast by a cleric of at least tenth level. |
 Cliff Jacobson is the Lead Engineer at Visioneering Games, an Atlanta-based company specializing in casual games and its flagship PrizeWagon.com free poker website. Cliff has been developing web applications for over 10 years, and loves to share his passion for the technology with an audience. |
 For over 25 years as an entertainment attorney, Cliff Lovette has represented recording artists, record companies, independent motion picture producers, writers, and other entertainment clients. For 6 years, Cliff was SR VP of Business & Legal Affairs of LaFace Records, reporting to multi-Grammy producers Antonio “LA” Reid and Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds. Currently, Cliff heads The Lovette Entertainment Law Group Ltd, a boutique entertainment law firm in Atlanta, servicing various clients such as Usher, Organized Noize Productions, The Estate of Lisa Lopes, Darp (Dallas Austin’s production company), Fathom Studios (an animated feature-length film studio) and other independent film and digital media producers and radio and television personalities. Prior to working at LaFace, Cliff was a senior associate of the law firm Katz, Smith & Cohen, where he had primary responsibility for over dozen entertainment clients and handled legal work for Jimmy Buffet, B. B. King, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.
Cliff is also leading Atlanta’s bid effort to secure Teatro Zinzanni’s location of a cirque/cabaret dinner theatre in what will become Atlanta’s new downtown theatre district. Cliff is also writing the screenplay based upon the story of a Soviet-era circus that was abandoned in the United States around the time the USSR collapsed. Cliff is a board member of the Entertainment & Sports Section of the Georgia State Bar.
Recently, Cliff was acknowledge as the 9th most influential music industry power broker in Atlanta by a local newspaper.
Cliff is a founding executive member of CECIL (an ad hoc Georgia-based Committee on Entertainment, Capitol, Investment & Legislation) which is tasked with improving Georgia tax incentive legislation for the Film, TV, Game Development and Music industries and attracting investment funding for local production. Cliff is also on the Executive Board of The Entertainment & Sports Section of the State Bar of Georgia and a member of various other professional associations such as Georgia Production Partnership, and Women in Film & Television, NARAS (the Grammy Organization). |
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 Mr. Lowe is chief executive officer of C. Allen Lowe & Associates, LLC (www.callenlowe.com), an executive consulting and venture catalyst firm. Mr. Lowe is co-founder of Visioneering Holdings, Inc., and its respective subsidiaries: Visioneering Games, Inc. (www.visioneeringgames.com), SNAP e-Media, Inc. (www.snapemedia.com), and PrizeWagon, Inc. (www.prizewagon.com). Visioneering Games is an engineering firm that creates casual games for Internet destinations. SNAP e-Media represents a diverse group of Internet publishers and engages advertisers to provide highly-targeted Internet advertising brokerage and reporting services. PrizeWagon is a premier Internet destination where players enjoy free games with real prizes.
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 Daniel Cazan (Lead Faculty, Game Art and Design, Art Institute of Atlanta) has been working diligently to strengthen the presence of the game industry in Georgia for over four years. In the past Daniel has been the Atlanta Chapter Coordinator for the Georgia Game Developers Association, has worked as Art Lead for Waveform Studios, worked as a contract artist for multiple game studios, and has developed courses for both Savannah College of Art and Design (online) and the Art Institute of Atlanta. His educational background includes a BS in Computer Science from the University of Georgia (Yamacraw certified), an MFA in Computer Art from the Savannah College of Art and Design (focuses on Level Design and Procedural Graphics), and he is currently pursuing an MS in Computer Science at the Georgia Institute of Technology (with specializations in Computer Graphics and Artificial Intelligence). |
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Daniel Greenberg is a videogame scriptwriter, design consultant, and voiceover director. His latest games include Crysis, The Lord of the Rings Online, and the newly announced MMORPG based on the Cartoon Network characters, FusionFall. |
 Daniel Lilleberg
Lead Animator
Hi-Rez Studios
Daniel is the Lead Animator at Hi-Rez Studios in Alpharetta, where his responsibilities include animation and animation design. He has worked in animation for more than 10 years, primarily in games but also in television, advertising, and architecture. His game titles include Wizards and Warriors, Dungeon Lords, Unreal 2, and NBA Basketball 2006. The collaborative creative process and the exceptional crew are his favorite things about working at Hi-Rez, although game night, 6PM basketball, the 5 at 5 beer Fridays, and the fact that he can bring his hyper border collie to the office are nice as well. A Recon agent in Global Agenda, speed and stealth mean you likely won't see him often, but his preference for melee weaponry mean when you do see him, it will be up close and personal, usually involving his sword and your head. Beyond Global Agenda, Daniel enjoys RTS, FPS, RPG, and sports games. His interests outside gaming include sports, music, reading, and beer-snobbery.
Little known fact: Daniel can climb anything, and having displayed that ability in front of Erez, he is being forced to join next year's version of American Gladiators. That's unbelievable Hulkster! |
 Danny Miller is a Flash game developer and designer based in Atlanta, Georgia. He is the founder of K2xL LLC. Since 2001, his games on his website www.k2xl.com have been played millions of times by millions of players from around the world.
In 2005, Danny was selected as the Editor’s Choice Winner and voted People’s Choice Winner in the Macromedia Student Innovation Award Contest in the Interactive Media category, for his Flash puzzle game Psychopath. His games are featured on thousands of casual gaming websites. Recently, Danny’s work was also featured in the Atlanta Journal Constitution and USA Today’s Tech Space. His games have been written about in online magazines such as The PCMagazine, The Daily Candy, Channel 4 (UK), Jayisgames, BlogCritics, and countless more. His most recent game, Boomshine, has been played over 10 million times and was the proud recipient of two awards from the casual gaming website Kongregate.com.
In addition to creating games, Danny writes for multiple blogs and consults for various businesses. He is currently developing games and writing game designs for various gaming and adver-gaming companies around the world. |
 Deborah Thomas is the founder of SillyMonkey LLC, a boutique training company specializing in innovative games and activities. We design custom board games, card games, electronic games, video games and other interactive multimedia training components for instructor-led sessions, as well as, eLearning, mobile learning, social networks and virtual worlds. We offer high quality training services to an impressive list of global clients that includes manufacturing, insurance, telecom, health, retail, software, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, and financial services. |
 Dov Jacobson joined the professional game industry in 1979 developing experimental online games for Time Warner, and coin-op games for Mafia-funded start-ups. As head of Turner Interactive in the 90’s, he was responsible for several briefly celebrated mainstream titles. Currently his studio, GamesThatWork, creates games for publishers (Vivendi, Viacom) , advertisers (CocaCola) and for the US military (Air Force, Navy).
Dov frequently leads a Game Development studio course at NYU. |
 Ed has been a game programmer for the past 26 years. He has been the lead programmer on eight published games, including 'Seafox' and the 'Castles of Doctor Creep.' He has published on platforms from the Apple II to the PC, with stops for Atari and Commodore along the way. He currently is writes casual games under the brand of Cat's Eye Games. |
 Ian Schreiber has been in the game industry since the year 2000, first as a programmer and then as a game designer. He has worked on five published titles, and two serious game simulations. Ian has taught game design and development courses at Ohio University, Columbus State Community College, and Savannah College of Art and Design. |
 James Simpson has been dreaming of writing games since he first touched his Atari 400. He began his career in gaming by studying C/C++ programming as part of B.S. in computer information systems at DeVry Institute of Technology. James followed this up by teaching himself a variety of 3D art tools, and is currently pursuing a B.A. in Game Art and Design at The Art Institute of Atlanta. As part of this he has been working with Autodesk's Maya and 3dsMax programs and a variety of engines such as Unreal 2004 and Unreal 3. His first published game with WildTangent was called "Invasion: The Last Stand", followed up by a series of contract projects with various gaming studios such as Cartoon Network. At the moment he owns the game company 'Cellbloc Studios', contracting to create various casual games. |
 John Sharp is an interaction designer, graphic designer and educator. He has been involved in art and design for twenty years in a variety of media: interaction design, games, print design, motion graphics, and radio & club DJing. Today, John is a professor in the Interactive Design & Game Development department and the Art History department at the Savannah College of Art and Design-Atlanta. John is also a partner in Supercosm, where he helps clients entertain, educate and organize interactive experiences. His work has been recognized by ID Magazine, the Art Director's Club and the Webby Awards. |
 JP Rhea is a visual storyteller. His art can be seen in numerous White Wolf publications. His short story Cradle was featured in the Atlanta Outworlder's collaborative project and released at DragonCon 2003. He one of his latest projects was working as a World-Building GM for the MMO game Hero’s Journey by Simutronics. |
 Justin Achilli is a game designer for CCP Games. He comes from a pen-and-paper roleplaying games background, in which he developed the award-winning Vampire: The Masquerade and Vampire: the Requiem properties. He's now working on CCP's World of Darkness property. When he's not playing video games, he enjoys nightclub DJing, cooking , writing, and making rude gestures toward whoever's playing against the Dallas Cowboys this week. |
CTO and part owner of Blue Heat Games, Ken Lightner has over 15 years of experience writing, designing, and programming games. Ken most recently completed the officially licensed Major League Baseball game for mobile phone devices, which includes daily roster updates and a new, replay of recent games feature. He currently works on the design and programming of the recently announced Railroad Tycoon Mobile for Oasys.
Originally, Ken helped found Holistic Design where he worked as a third party developer for leading publishers like “S.S.I.”, “Take Two Interactive”, “Microprose”, and “Segasoft”. His numerous PC credits include Best Buy top ten selling “Mall Tycoon”, “Final Liberation - Epic Warhammer 40K”, “Emperor of the Fading Suns”, and strategy game of the year, “Machiavelli the Prince”.
He now helps Blue Heat Games develop titles as diverse as “MLB 2007”, “Snoop Dog Boxing”, “NBA 5 on 5 Basketball 2006”, “Jimmy Neutron Mobile Adventures”, and “Two Scoop Twist”. Ken also has credits in the paper game industry including the “Noble Armada” miniature game and the Real Life Roleplaying line at Holistic. His fiction work appeared in the horror anthology, Book of All Flesh, by Eden Studios.
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 Kevin O'Gorman spent seven years as a game designer before deciding to focus his attention on training future generations of game developers. His experience spans from kids’ games to MMOGs. Highlights include: MediaStation, where he designed a number of Tonka products for Hasbro, including the critically acclaimed Tonka WorkShop, and Whoola, where he designed an online, multiplayer virtual Lewis and Clark expedition for high school students, with the cooperation of the late historian Stephen Ambrose, whose history of the expedition, Undaunted Courage, was the basis for the design.
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 Mr. Wilson is the founding member of Licensed 2 Thrill, LLC, the Atlanta based Licensing agency that was responsible for implementing the international licensing program for Animated Family Films. In two short years Licensed 2 Thrill has built an impressive list of clients by focusing on the independent animation studios and currently represents, Animated Family Films, Eternal Pictures, Deos Animation Studios, EPL Interactive, Cinema Scene and The Toney Watkins Company.
From the mid 1970s until the late 1990s, Wilson served as President of Wilson Marketing, a promotional marketing agency in Atlanta Georgia. The agencies’ clients consisted of The Coca-Cola Company, The Kellogg Company, Valvoline Motor Oil and Shell Oil, USA. During his tenure he was instrumental in the development of the national roll out program for the introduction of Diet Coke, The Coca-Cola Olympic Pin Trading Program and the development of the Kellogg’s NASCAR Team. In 1994 the agency was award the prestigious “REGGIE” award for producing one of the 10 Best Promotions of the Year. The award winning promotion was a cross promotion between NBC and The Kellogg Company. It was featured by “Ad Age Magazine” as arguably the largest promotion in history. Mr. Wilson received his MBA from Southern Polytechnic University in Marietta Georgia and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama. He has served in the US Army as a Military Policeman during the Vietnam conflict. He can be reached at 770-664-6430 or via email at
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 Lou Desetto
Senior Programmer
Hi-Rez Studios
Lou began his career writing PC strategy games in high school. He attended GA Tech for Bachelors and Masters in Computer Science, specializing in AI and 3D graphics. As one of the pioneer members of the development team at Hi-Rez Studios, Lou is now responsible for AI, statistics, and web- based configuration tools. Lou has spent most of the last decade on business applications of AI and graphics and established his own consulting company: Timely Development. His favorite games include Team Fortress 2 and Civilization.
Little known fact: Lou actually asked his wife for a C++ GUI book for Christmas, confirming the PC user stereotype illustrated in the Mac vs. PC commercials. |
 Lukas Bradley is President of Thrust Interactive, specializing in multiplayer games, virtual worlds, and Rich Internet Applications. A programmer since age 8, Lukas has designed and developed games on numerous platforms; his forte is connecting Adobe Flash games to Java-based servers. At the moment he's playing Team Fortress II, Tribal Wars, and Warhammer Online. |
 Marcus is the CEO and founder of Blue Heat Games and has a wealth of gaming and Internet experience. Blue Heat is one of the largest independent mobile game development studios in the US. Blue Heat has shipped over 30 games since its founding in 2001 and clients have included Sega Mobile, EA Sports Mobile, and Sony Pictures Wireless. Prior to starting Blue Heat, Marcus ran Sega Sports, a $100 million business unit. In that role, Marcus was responsible for all sports games for the launch of Dreamcast, which included NFL 2K, NBA 2K and NHL 2K. Marcus was also the Director of Product Development for ZapMedia, an Internet hardware and software media center for the living room. Before joining Sega in 1996, Marcus worked at IBM's Multimedia Publishing Studio and Turner Broadcasting's games group and produced products involving Turner entities such as Castle Rock, New Line Cinema, and Hanna Barbera. Marcus received a BS in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Georgia Tech in 1992. |
 Matt Piersall
President / Sound Designer
GL33K LLC
Matt Piersall started his career at anime giant FUNimation composing music and doing sound effect design for trailers and promotional videos. He had always wanted to get in to video games and fortunately found a small contract job at Terminal Reality which landed him an opportunity to work with Retro Studios. After working with Retro Studios, Chris Sabat and Piersall started Okratron 5000 based in Dallas, Texas. Together they created sounds and did voice over for countless titles. In 2007 Piersall started GL33k and moved the sound design operation to Austin where he and his band of misfits currently wail, make sweet sounds, and party (verb)." |
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Managing Director, Adams Capital, Inc.
Co-Founder, StartupLounge.com Mike Blake is Managing Director at Adams Capital, a boutique valuation services firm in business since 1995. Mike specializes in the valuation of emerging, privately-held companies, intellectual property, and intangible assets and leads Adams Capital’s dispute resolution practice. Mike spent 8 years in venture capital and merchant banking, including implementing defense conversion in Russia, Ukraine & Belarus, investing in high-tech ventures in Israel, and supporting the financing of small companies in the United States. Mike also founded 3SVentures, a corporate financial consulting firm, which Adams Capital acquired in 2005. Mr. Blake is an active participant in the Georgia early-stage investment community. In addition to co-founding StartupLounge.com, Mr. Blake is a board member of the Georgia Tech/Emory TIGER program, sits on the Investment Task Force of the American-Israel Chamber of Commerce in Atlanta, is a business plan judge for the Bronner Business Institute, and last year helped mentor opportunities in ATDC’s CapVenture program. Mike earned his BA in French & Economics from Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, PA, earned his MBA from Georgetown University and is a CFA Charterholder. |
Michael McCoy, faculty at The Guildhall at SMU, is a 10 year veteran of the game industry with six titles under his belt. He entered the game design profession with Interactive Magic where he designed the iF-22 and iF/A-18 flight sims, as well as produced and designed iF-22 Persian Gulf. From there, Michael joined Sinister Games where he finished designing Shadow Company, before transferring to UbiSoft Montreal, Sinister’s parent company. In Montreal Michael designed the extremely successful Rainbow Six 3 series: Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield and Rainbow Six 3: Xbox. His most successful title to date is Rainbow Six 3: Xbox, which sold over 1,000,000 copies worldwide and earned numerous accolades including “Best Game of Show” at Microsoft’s Europe X03. Other notable accomplishments include being interviewed in Marc Saltzman’s Game Design: Secret’s of the Sages published in 2002.
Michael completed his undergraduate degree at Louisiana State University before earning a master’s degree in atmospheric science at The Ohio State University in Columbus.
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 Michal Adam
Associate Producer/Press Relations Specialist
Hi-Rez Studios
Michal's project and team management skills are crucial to her role as the Associate Producer on Global Agenda™, along with her main responsibilities at Hi-Rez of managing the press and public relations for both the Studio and Global Agenda. Michal honed her experience in public relations with her work for the Israeli Foreign Ministry where she coordinated press conferences for upper echelon international politicians and executed programs for public events relating to affairs in the Middle East. Michal is also a member of the Atlanta Entertainment Society's DigiTainment board, a collaborative initiative to band together Georgia's growing entertainment industry. Michal graduated with a BS from the University of Arizona's Honors College where she majored in International Studios, Communications and Journalism. Michal also does all of the motion capture for the female characters in Global Agenda (look out for her signature drop-kick action in the game!). Little known fact: Michal is a semi-pro Ms. Pacman player with high scores in small pubs throughout the country. |
 Mick Larkins
Technical Artist
Hi-Rez Studios
As a technical artist, Mick's primary responsibilities are programming the animation and physics systems within Global Agenda™. Mick also works to create tools for the artists and audio team as well as character-centric gameplay features. Mick holds a Masters of Fine Arts in Digital Production Arts from Clemson University and received his BS in Computer Science from Furman University. He has published three books on Maya: Mastering Maya 7, Maya 8 at a Glance, and Mastering Maya 8.5. His past work also includes working on various multimedia projects with major musicians. Within Global Agenda, Mick pwns using the Recon Specialist class and especially enjoys deceiving enemies using stealth and decoys. While his favorite genre of gaming is the first-person shooter, his latest obsession is drumming in the Rock Band series. Mick's other obsessions include music, and cooking.
Little known fact: Mick bravely struggles against an incurable addiction to the mango custard desert served at the local Indian restaurant. |
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Mike Weaver has created illustrations, covers and concept art for EA Games, Spectrum, Amazing Stories, Dragon magazine, White Wolf Magazine, AD&D games, WOTC’s Magic the Gathering, Vampire and many others. |
 Nathan Knaack
Game Designer, Writer
Hi-Rez Studios
Nathan is responsible for all of Global Agenda's fiction, elaborating on world locations, storyline, and the overall theme of the game. He's also part of the design team, using the Unreal 3 editor to create training maps, cinematic encounters, and mission logic. Other duties include writing voice acting scripts and artificial intelligence routines.
Raised and educated in Michigan, Nathan earned a BA in English Literature from Oakland University before relocating to Georgia to become the Lead Designer, Lead Creative Writer, and Community Manager for Rapid Reality Studios. Prior to joining Hi-Rez, he also served as the official proofreader for CCP Studios and has been published twice by Sword and Sorcery Studios, a branch of White Wolf Publishing.
His favorite aspect of Hi-Rez Studios is the casual atmosphere, but all that goes out the window when it's time to play Global Agenda; once he logs in, Nathan is all business as he dominates with the medic class, valiantly keeping his teammates alive while unleashing insidious poisons on his helpless victims. Other than destroying innocent playtesters and outmatched coworkers in Global Agenda, his interests include motorcycles, science fiction novels, role-playing games, music from the U.K., and the Detroit Red Wings. His favorite games include Fallout 2, Company of Heroes, World of Warcraft, Eve Online, and Battlefield 2142.
Little known fact: Nathan spends most of his free time writing short autobiographical summaries. |
 Prior to officially joining the game industry in 2004, Rich worked in Human Resources and Management for many years, including as HR Director for a software development consultancy in Austin, TX. An MMO enthusiast since 1996, Rich is a consistent advocate of new and creative ways to engage and support the online gaming community, as well as being a proponent of Community Relations as a distinct discipline within the gaming industry. At NCsoft, Rich managed the Community Relations teams for “City of Heroes”, “City of Villains”, “Lineage”, “Lineage II”, “Tabula Rasa”, “PlayNC” and “Auto Assault”. Rich has also served as Director of Community Relations and Support at Kaneva, a virtual world and social networking company in Atlanta, Georgia.
Currently, Rich is the Community Director for Cartoon Network, with their upcoming MMO Fusion Fall, expected in 2008. |
 Rob Cameron is a Developer Evangelist with Microsoft Corporation based out of Atlanta, Georgia. As part of Microsoft’s Communications Sector DPE team, Rob focuses on enterprise development tools and technologies for large wireline, wireless, satellite, cable, and media & entertainment companies. Rob co-authored Building ASP.NET Server Controls published by Apress and recently authored the BizTalk Operations chapter for Pro BizTalk Server 2006 also published by Apress. He has a Master’s Degree in Information Technology Management and a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science. |
 Rob is an attorney with the law firm of Casey Gilson P.C. in Atlanta, GA. He practices in the areas of technology, entertainment and corporate law. He frequently represents companies that are licensing, selling or acquiring intellectual property.
Rob is a founding board member of the recently formed Intellectual Property Law Section of the Atlanta Bar Association . Rob is the co-author of Volume 5 on Internet and Interactive Media Law of LexisNexis’ 10 volume treatise on Entertainment Law Contracts. For 1998-1999 he was Co-Chair and for 1999-2001 was Chair of the Subcommittee on Policies for Managing Generic Top Level Domains of the Special Committee on Trademarks and the Internet of the Intellectual Property Law Section of the American Bar Association. He teaches Information Security Law in the Professional Education Program at Georgia Tech. Rob has served on the Boards of SERIS and IMAGE. Rob was the Chairman and co-founder of the 1995 Atlanta Interactive Media Expo. He has written numerous articles which have been published concerning software, entertainment, internet, copyright, and trademark law. He has also given numerous presentations in these areas. He has, from time to time, appeared on television programs to discuss issues relating to Internet law.
Rob has been listed as a “Super Lawyer” in the Georgia edition of Law and Policy Magazine most years since it was started in 2004. Rob has also been named as a “Fellow” by the highly selective Knights of the Bar.
Rob graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering. While attending Georgia Tech, he was a co-op for the Georgia Power Company. He attended law school at the University of Georgia where he was a member of the editorial board of the Law Review and graduated cum laude. |
Sam’s design credits start with paper games and include the “DC Heroes”, BattleTech, Renegade Legion, Earthdawn and Shadowrun lines . He was series editor for 3 novel lines, and produced CG segments for the BattleTech cartoon show.
Starting in 1995, Sam ran Kesmai Corporation’s live service, GameStorm . He also was a producer for EA.Com.
At Sony Online Entertainment, Sam worked on Star Wars Galaxies both as a senior systems designer and content designer.
Sam is currently the Lead Game Designer for Cartoon Network’s upcoming MMO. Sam received his BA and MBA from Northwestern University in economics in 1981 and 1983 respectively.
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 Sean McBride
Senior Character Artist
Hi-Rez Studios
Sean is a Senior Character Artist at Hi-Rez Studios in Alpharetta. His is responsible for all the steps from modeling to final in-game asset, and making sure all character assets adhere to the standards that are set. Sean contributed to multiple mod projects before finding his way into the industry, with titles such as guild wars and Sega Rally Revo, despite no formal training. He recently published a book with Wordware Publishing called Essential 3DS Max 2008. Some of his favorite games include the ID collection, Half-Life, Diablo, Baldur's Gate, and Zelda.
In Global Agenda Sean enjoys playing Recon specializing in sniping and bionic augmentation giving him the ability to leap over large obstacles getting behind the enemy and systematically removing them one by one. His favorite thing about working at Hi-Rez is being able to develop a game with a private company that’s driven by the love of the game, not the money that it could make and arbitrary deadlines set by publishers.
Little known fact: Sean is able to leap tall buildings with a single sarcastic quip. |
 Stewart Chisam
Vice President, Game Operations
Hi-Rez Studios
Stewart Chisam is Vice President, Game Operations for Hi-Rez Studios, an independent developer of on-line games based in Alpharetta, GA. He is responsible for IT Operations, Support, Community Management and Financial Operations/Billing for Global Agenda, a massive, multi-player online game currently in early end-user testing. Prior to joining Hi-Rez, Stewart spent 12 years in the enterprise software space. As Chief Technology Officer of BlueCube Software, and subsequently Senior Vice President of Technology at RedPrairie Corporation, Stewart built the global hosting and support operations for a software-as-a-service merchandising and workforce management solution used by many of the world's largest retail and hospitality companies. At Radiant Systems, Stewart served in a variety of senior technical roles as the company expanded globally and grew from under $30 million in annual revenues to over $150 million.Stewart holds a bachelor of arts in Economics from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He lives in Forsyth County with his wife Amy, and two children, Ben, 5, and Meredith, 3.
Little known fact: Stewart refuses to comment on the subject, but he is legally prohibited from entering the local gas station, Wrigley Field's visitor dugout, and the Yvette Moore Fine Art Gallery in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. |
 Thomas J. Mihill is a litigator at Fellows LaBriola LLP, an Atlanta litigation firm. Mr. Mihill’s practice encompasses a wide range of complex business disputes, with an emphasis on intellectual property. Mr. Mihill has represented individuals and corporations in both bringing and defending against trademark and copyright infringement claims, trade secret violations, and cybersquatting actions. In the area of video games and virtual worlds, Mr. Mihill has counseled and represented game developers and publishers in intellectual property and business matters.
Mr. Mihill has tried cases and represented clients at the state and federal level, in Georgia and nationwide.
Mr. Mihill is a member of the IGDA and GGDA, as well as the American Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, the State Bar of Georgia, the Atlanta Bar Association, and the Cobb County Bar Association. |
 Todd Harris
Chief Operating Officer
Hi-Rez Studios
Todd Harris submitted his first computer game to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as part of his college application, since writing games was more fun than writing essays. After obtaining his BS in Computer Science from the same university, Todd entered the software engineering industry, eventually managing next-generation Product Development efforts at NCR, Radiant Systems, and BlueCube Software. BlueCube developed an online technology platform and international hosting capabilities, technology and services that are directly applicable to the development, deployment, and service challenges of massively multiplayer online games. With over 15 years of technology leadership experience, Todd is the Executive Producer of the action MMO Global Agenda™ and is an active contributor to the growing Georgia gaming industry, including advising area game and art schools on their programs.
Little known fact: Todd has transformed the internal Chinese martial art of Tai Chi into his own tactical way of maintaining health and tranquility within Hi-Rez Studios. This is commonly referred to as Todd Chi. |
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A fantasy digital painter/illustrator, Tom Biondolillo has worked through the years for such companies as TSR, WOTC, FASA, AEG, Steve Jackson Games, Hasbro, GT Interactive, Resaurus Toys, Dark Horse comics and Caliber/Desperado comics where he's painted, illustrated, inked, penciled, written, and designed. He has recently worked on CCP/White Wolf's many lines, including Vampire V:TES cards, Mage, and Scion illustrating and painting. |
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