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Keynote Announced!
Kevin Hanna
Creative Director for Google's Lively
Hanna was Creative Director for Google's Lively, and currently VP Creative of XRay Kid Studios, the content spinoff formed by Google. Prior to working at Google, Kevin spent five years at Microsoft developing content for the X-Box and X-Box 360, before moving to The Walt Disney Company to work as an Art Director where he oversaw the visual direction of over fifty titles.
Leigh Alexander 
News Director
Gamasutra.com
Leigh Alexander is News Director of Think Services' industry news site Gamasutra, and covers the philosophy and pop culture of games and gamers at her blog, Sexy Videogameland.Her regular column on Gamasutra sister site GameSetWatch, The Aberrant Gamer, examines the trickiest psychological issues in current games, and her columns and reviews appear in Variety, Paste Magazine, and various other consumer outlets. Formerly the editor of Think Services' Worlds in Motion weblog on the business of online worlds, she was content director for the inaugural Worlds in Motion Summit at the 2008 Game Developers' Conference, and is pleased to rejoin the event in an advisory role.
Stephen Andrade
Senior Vice President, Digital Development
General Manager, NBC.com
Stephen manages and oversees operations for NBC.com as well as creative development activities related to NBC Entertainment interactive programming. His responsibilities include working closely with show creative personnel to make their sites true online extensions of on-air programming, with internal and external technologists to use common web applications to create new creative products and with advertisers to complete the loop with their customers. Recent site highlights include the Heroes 360 alternative reality game experience, The Office’s – Dunder Mifflin Infinity creative social networking project, Biggest Loser Diet Center Site and Subscription Club, the Deal or No Deal SMS/Web live game and the Coastal Dreams, Pale Force and Jay Leno’s Garage original web programs. Prior to joining NBC, Stephen was a member of the legal and business affairs department of Sony Interactive Entertainment (now known as Sony Computer Entertainment) where he played a significant role in the third party licensing program connected with the launch of the PlayStation.
James M. Bower
Founder, Chairman of the Board and Chief Visionary Officer
Numedeon Inc.
James received his Ph.D. in neurophysiology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was a professor at the California Institute of Technology for 17 years and now holds a joint position as professor of Computational Biology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, and the University of Texas San Antonio. His scientific work involves computational studies of cerebral and cerebellar cortex. He is also founder, chairman of the board and chief visionary officer for Numedeon Inc., which in 1999 launched Whyville.net as one of the first virtual worlds for tweens. Whyville.net currently has more than 3.4 million registered users, and remains one of the few learning-based virtual worlds. James has published more than 100 scientific articles, several books, and has served on scientific and educational advisory committees for numerous national organizations including the National Academy of Sciences, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the Society for Neuroscience. James lives on a ranch outside San Antonio where he breeds and raises Cleveland Bay horses, and plays polo.
Mic Bowman
Principal Engineer
Intel, Corporate Technology Group
Mic Bowman is a Principal Engineer in Intel’s Corporate Technology Group where he investigates scalable software architectures for “Connected Visual Computing”. Bowman received his BS from the University of Montana, and his MS and PhD in Computer Science from the University of Arizona. Bowman has developed a number of large-scale distributed systems including the first distributed search service for the Web (Harvest, 1993). More recently, he led the Intel team that built and deployed PlanetLab, a global testbed for networking and distributed systems research that runs at 500 academic and industrial labs worldwide and a winner of the “Top 50 Technologies” award from Scientific American.
Jamie Cheng
President
Klei Entertainment Inc.
In 2005, Jamie self-funded Klei Entertainment Inc., which has since launched award-winning PC and Xbox LIVE Arcade titles. Today, he feels fortunate to lead the studio in bringing that level of passion and polish to online gaming.
Prior to founding Klei, Jamie was an avid AI programmer for Relic Entertainment, where he developed the AI for the platinum seller Warhammer 40,000K: Dawn of War, and The Outfit for the Xbox 360. He also co-wrote an article on Planning Systems for Game Programming Gems 5 and bewilderingly found the article in the Best of Game Programming Gems.
Victoria Coleman
Vice President, Corporate Technology Organization
Samsung Electronics
Victoria Coleman is a Vice President with the Corporate Technology Organization of Samsung Electronics where she is responsible for Computer Science R&D in North America. Prior to this she was Director of Security Initiatives at Intel Corporation. She has a long R&D history including 6 years at SRI International as a Director and 10 years at the University of London as a Professor.
Kevin Hanna
Creative Director for Google's Lively
Google
Kevin Hanna was Creative Director for Google's Lively, and currently VP Creative of XRay Kid Studios, the content spinoff formed by Google.Prior to working at Google, Kevin spent five years at Microsoft developing content for the X-Box and X-Box 360, before moving to The Walt Disney Company to work as an Art Director where he oversaw the visual direction of over fifty titles.
Nabeel Hyatt
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Conduit Labs, Loudcrowd
Bio coming soon...
Joe Hyrkin
Vice President of Sales & Business Development
Gaia Online
Joe Hyrkin drives sales and business development for gaiaonline.com, the leading teen hangout on the web. Joe has more than 15 years of experience in senior sales and business development management, both in the USA and internationally. He has focused his career on creating and launching new businesses around the world, and has been instrumental in pioneering creative revenue opportunities in the community web space. Prior to joining Gaia Online, Joe headed up the business side of Multimedia Search at Yahoo, where he also served as head of Business Development and Sales for Flickr. Before his time at Yahoo, Joe served as Vice President of Strategic Accounts and Asia Pacific Operations at a publicly listed company, Virage Inc., now a division of Autonomy. Prior to Virage, he headed sales for Sina.com, the top Chinese language web portal, and before that Joe ran The Economist Group’s business in China for 4.5 years establishing the company’s presence in the country and overseeing offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Joe has a BA in Political Science and Chinese Studies from the State University of New York.
Daniel James
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Three Rings, Whirled
Daniel is co-founder and CEO of Three Rings, developers of casual MMO games PUZZLE PIRATES, BANG! HOWDY and the forthcoming WHIRLED. Three Rings is an independent game developer and operator with over thirty employees, based in San Francisco.
Frank Lantz
Co-Founder and Creative Director
Area/Code
Frank is the creative director and co-founder of area/code. He has recently been involved in many high profile, large-scale, real-world game projects including PACMANHATTAN, BIG URBAN GAME, and CONQWEST. Before starting area/code, Frank was the director of game design at gameLab, worked as a game designer for POP, where he created games for Cartoon Network, Lifetime TV, and VH1, and between 1988 and 1998, was creative director at R/GA Interactive. For over 10 years, Frank has taught game design at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program, the School of Visual Arts, and the New School. His writings on games, technology and culture have appeared in a variety of publications.
Christian Lassonde
Founder and President
Millions of Us
Christian Lassonde is a veteran of the Massively Multiplayer Games industry with deep knowledge of the technology and economics involved in Online Virtual Worlds and their communities. In his role as President, Lassonde is responsible for managing all day-to-day operations at Millions of Us, including production and finance. Lassonde came to Millions of Us from Linden Lab where he was the Program Manager in charge of core product development on Second Life and web development. Prior to Linden Lab, Lassonde was at LucasArts, a division of Lucasfilm, where he worked as a Lead Network Programmer on multiple titles including Republic Commando. He also held the post of Lead Programmer for Ultima Online at Origin Studios, a division of Electronic Arts. During his time at Origin Lassonde released both Ultima Online: Third Dawn and Ultima Online: Lord Blackthorn's Revenge. Lassonde holds Bachelors in Engineering Science and Computer Science from the University of Western Ontario and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of San Francisco.
Jeremy Monroe
Director of Business Development
Sulake
As director of marketing and business development for Habbo North America, Jeremy Monroe is instrumental in building unique and beneficial partnerships in the professional sports and media entertainment industries. Monroe is responsible for defining new branded products, traffic strategies and revenue generating opportunities for Sulake’s top property, Habbo, the world’s largest and fastest growing virtual world and social networking service for teenagers. Preceding his current role, he was head of production for Sulake. With extensive knowledge in the online gaming landscape, Monroe holds an impressive 10 year background as a project manager and software development producer for several prestigious international firms including Accenture, Nortel Networks, Vodafone, CFC, Disney Interactive and Activision, prior to joining Sulake.
Rajat Paharia
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Bunchball
Rajat is the founder and CEO of Bunchball. Bunchball's Nitro platform distills concepts from behavioral economics and game design into a web service that major media companies, social networks, ISPs, and others are using to drive user behavior and increase engagement on their web sites. Rajat's skill set combines a unique understanding of technology and design that stems from a four-year career at design firm IDEO where he was co-director of the Software Experiences Practice. Prior to IDEO, Rajat worked at Philips Consumer Electronics, IBM Research and ViewStar.
Shervin Pishevar
Chief Executive Officer
Social Gaming Network
Shervin Pishevar is the CEO and co-founder of Social Gaming Network (SGN), which he helped incubate from within Webs.com, Inc. Since its inception in September 2007, SGN has grown to more than a billion page views per month and more than 50 million users. Named "Bill Gates' Worst Nightmare" by the Financial Times, Shervin is a visionary technology entrepreneur, published researcher and technology expert, best known for helping usher in the on-demand web computing era as the visionary behind the first web operating system, WebOS. Shervin has an extensive track record for technology innovation and his achievements have been highlighted by the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times, LA Times, CNN, CNBC and Slashdot.
Jeffrey Pope
Executive Vice President
NGI
Jeffrey is an Executive Vice President in ngi group and the founder of ngi's North American branch office. He is also a Director in 3di; which is ngi's group company innovating in virtual world and 3D technologies. With over 13 years living and working in Asia, Jeffrey has an extensive background in business development, negotiating critical business alliances and opening new markets. Prior to joining ngi group, Jeffrey held a position with Microsoft Japan where he was involved with the development of Japans Xbox live game server infrastructure, and overseeing an MSN data center. Thereafter he spent 6 years with Sun Microsystems Japan where he managed various aspects of Sun’s Services and Sales business. He was instrumental in helping Sun to streamline its Services processes, primarily through the Six Sigma quality control methodology, of which he was the lead practitioner and trainer. Jeffrey was also responsible for managing a large organization, which encompassed a call center and multi-tier support departments. His last role was that of the head of Sun’s Emerging Technologies Division in the Asia Pacific region. Having served as a consultant, a conference speaker, and participated in industry committees, Jeffrey is an acknowledged authority on Virtual Worlds and the Online Computer Games (MMO) market.
Michael Rowe
Manager - 3D Internet & v-Business & Business Management
IBM
Michael Rowe (AKA - Ultravox Freeman in Second Life) has been a gamer since the days of Pong. As Business Development Executive in IBM's 3D internet and Virtual Worlds team, Michael is building the strategy for IBM's growth in the 3D Internet, developing solutions for key customers, and driving partnerships. Michael has spent the last 4 years working in Virtual Worlds including Second Life, There.com, ActiveWorlds, and others, assessing how to best leverage this technology for business and collaboration. Michael has been a speaker and panelist at many virtual world and gaming functions.
Prior to joining IBM, Michael has been a radio disc jockey, semi professional light opera singer, and the leader singer of a Blues Band. He graduated from the Grady School of Journalism with a degree in Telecommunications, focused on video Journalism and production. He spent 10 years working in healthcare, designing field data collection devices for home health nurses. He records a popular podcast on innovation and new technology called Dogear-Nation available on iTunes, and has been a champion of the 3D internet and virtual worlds for 4 years. Michael also has an MBA from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.
Andrew Trader
Executive Vice President, Business Development
Zynga
As a software and Internet entrepreneur, savvy business leader and long-time gamer, Andrew Trader ( A.T.) is establishing Zynga as a tour-de-force in the social gaming genre. By forging business partnerships with both independent and established game developers, A.T. has already grown Zynga’s network to over 1.0 million daily users since the company’s partner program launch in February 2008. Zynga currently boasts 30 games from 15 developers in addition to its own games and 1.6 million daily users. Before co-founding Zynga, A.T. was the CEO of Utah Street Networks and operator of Tribe.net; one of the first social networking sites. He led the sale of Utah Street Networks to Cisco in 2007. He was also the co-founder of Coremetrics , a leader in website marketing, and served as the company’s VP of Business Development growing the company to over 100 employees and raising $65 million in invested capital. Earlier in his career, he worked in corporate finance and business consulting at Ernst & Young LLP. He holds both BSE and MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. .
Sibley Verbeck
Chief Executive Officer
Electric Sheep
Sibley Verbeck is founder of The Electric Sheep Company, and is responsible for overall company strategy. As a former Chief Scientist of StreamSage, Inc. and Comcast Online, Sibley has previously been a leading researcher in advanced computational linguistic and statistical techniques for analyzing audio, video, and text. In January 2001, Sibley received an award from the Washington Techway Magazine as one of the top young technology executives in the DC area; in 2003 he was selected as one of MIT Technology Review's top 100 technology innovators worldwide under the age of 35. He has been an invited presenter at conferences ranging across topics including virtual worlds, search technology, digital television, and undergraduate science education. Sibley is involved with the I Do Foundation, the Acceleration Studies Foundation, the Responsible Endowment Coalition, and the Journal of Young Investigators.
Chris Waldron
Executive Producer
Fusion Fall, Cartoon Network
Chris Waldron is executive producer of Cartoon Network New Media’s forthcoming massively multi-player online game (MMOG), slated to premiere in summer 2008. In his role as executive producer, Waldron oversees design and development of the game from Cartoon Network headquarters in Atlanta, which follows several initial months spent in Seoul. He is responsible for all aspects of game production, technical direction, customer service, billing, community and marketing for the game.
Before being appointed executive producer, Waldron served as director of technology for Cartoon Network New Media, where he oversaw all technical and game development aspects for the Cartoon Network and Adult Swim web sites. One of Waldron’s key projects during this time was Codename: Kids Next Door – Operation: B.E.S.T., which received a 2004 Emmy Award nomination. Prior to joining Cartoon Network in 2000, Waldron worked as a web programmer and designer for various companies including Southern Company, BellSouth and FSC Securities Corporation.
Margaret Wallace
Chief Executive Officer & Founder
Rebel Monkey
Margaret Wallace was driven by a love for games and those who play them, Margaret has spent her life creating meaningful experiences for people of all ages. Before Rebel Monkey, she was a CEO of Skunk Studios in San Francisco and spent time at great places like Shockwave.com and PF.Magic. Margaret is frequently a featured panelist at gaming conferences.
She serves on the Steering Committee for the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) Casual Games Special Interest Group (SIG). Margaret was also a co-editor of the 2006 IGDA Casual Games White Paper. In 2006, she was named by Next Generation as one of the Game Industry's 100 Most Influential Women.
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