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GameON Finance 2009 Speakers |
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John Albright Founder & Managing Partner / Co-Managing Partner JLA Ventures / Blackberry Partners Fund
[Back to top]
| John Albright
Mr. Albright is the Founder and Managing Partner of JLA
Ventures and the Co-Managing Partner of the Blackberry Partners Fund.
Prior to the founding of JLA Ventures in 1996 and the BlackBerry
Partners Fund in 2008, Mr. Albright held senior positions with several
private equity and venture capital firms. During his tenure in the
private equity and venture capital business Mr. Albright gained
extensive experience assisting entrepreneurs and managers to shape
their vision and capital plans into successful long term growth
programs which typically involve an aggressive financing strategy. Mr.
Albright has a history of assisting entrepreneurial companies through
significant growth and eventually to the public markets. His ability to
work with and advise senior management of investee companies as well as
his skills in filling supporting roles where existing management lack
the experience or skill set, has been vital to the success of past
investments. Mr. Albright is a Chartered Financial Analyst and received
his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the Schulich School
of Business at York University. Mr. Albright serves as a director of
several private and public companies, and the Canadian Venture Capital
and Private Equity Association (CVCA) and is an advisory board member
of the North American Venture Capital Association.
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Dante Anderson
VP of Product Development
Kuma Reality Games
[Back to top]
| Dante Anderson
Dante is a veteran of the video games industry with nearly 15
years of product development and technical project management
experience. As a Senior Producer for GT Interactive, Dante oversaw the
development of such best-selling titles as the one million plus seller
Duke Nukem: A Time to Kill, Nam/Napalm and WWII GI. Previously, Dante
was a member of the Saturn Launch Team at Sega of America where he
produced showcase titles Panzer Dragoon and Clockwork Knight. At KUMA,
Dante directs all production-related activities for the growing
episodic game network, leading a mix of creative and technical talent
to deliver free, high-quality video games and machinima in regular
episodes. The games are primarily next-gen PC titles built on Valve's
Source engine but Kuma also makes lighter Flash games and award-winning
machinima. The front-line titles include original products Kuma\War and
The DinoHunters plus licensed titles ShootOut! and Dogfights from the
History Channel and The Kill Point from Spike TV. Animal Planet is
creating a TV series based on original Kuma game IP -- both the game
and show be released in January 2010.
Dante currently consults and speaks on a regular basis on iphone
development and game/new media product integration and strategy. Dante
has a Bachelor of Commerce degree with a Major in Computer Science from
McGill University. |
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Joel Auge Owner/Partner HitGrab [Back to top]
| Joel AugeJoel
Auge is the co-owner and co-founder of HitGrab Inc, a leader in social
gaming. In March of 2008, HitGrab created MouseHunt, which is now one
of the most successful and engaging games on Facebook. In December of
2008, HitGrab's efforts on MouseHunt were rewarded with funding by
Facebook and it's investment partners.
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Jennifer Blitz Director
Tax Credits and Financing - OMDC [Back to top] | Jennifer Blitz
Jennifer Blitz has served as the Director of Tax Credits at the Ontario
Media Development Corporation since October 2006. She began her tenure
with the OMDC as a Team Leader in the Tax Credits Department in 2004
managing a team of analysts. Before joining the OMDC, Jennifer was a
policy advisor for the former Minister of Culture, David Tsubouchi,
conducting consultations with stakeholders and briefing the Minister on
policy proposals. Jennifer is a lawyer by training, having worked at
the law firm of McCarthy Tétrault. She received her LL.B. from Osgoode
Hall Law School. | | 
Dan Connors Chief Executive Officer, Director, Founder Telltale Games [Back to top]
| Dan ConnorsDan
Connors co-founded Telltale, Inc. in 2004. As Chief Executive Officer,
Dan has overseen Telltale's growth, establishing the company as a
leader in digital publishing and episodic production. During this time,
Telltale has launched more than twenty products, working with
high-quality licenses such as CSI, Sam & Max, Aardman Animations'
Wallace & Gromit and Strong Bad from HomestarRunner.com. Telltale's
episodic Sam & Max and Strong Bad games are recognized as the first
regularly-scheduled episodic series in gaming history.
Dan has
worked in the video game industry since 1993, in roles including
producer, director, and executive. His credits include Star Wars: Rogue
Squadron, X-Wing: Alliance, and Sam & Max Hit the Road. In 2008, he
was recognized by Develop magazine as one of the top 25 people
reshaping the games business.
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Warren Currell President Sherpa Games
[Back to top] |
Warren Currell
Warren
Currell is a respected game agent and president of Sherpa Games Inc., a
company that represents dozens of developers and studios in their
efforts to license games to publishers. He has brokered deals with most
of the major publishers including Microsoft, Atari, Sega, Take-Two, and
EA. Warren has broad connectionsin the publishing and development
community and possesses a background on the technical side of game
development providing him an understanding of how games are actually
made.
Warren is a member of the International Game
Developers Association, authoring the white paper for the IGDA on how to
pitch games to publishers. He has appeared on numerous television news
segments as a subject matter expert on the games industry and has
conducted presentations and moderated dozens of panel discussions about
the games industry. He has been involved twice with the sale of game
development studios and the establishment of a next-gen, multi platform
development studio in NewYork City.
Warren has
also worked on behalf of film and television companies, pitching their
properties for licensing of interactive content. He has also
successfully pitched two Microsoft Xbox LIVE! Arcade titles. Other
notable comments: He has been actively involved with the Serious Games
side of the business, successfully delivering two projects over the past
3 years; one for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and one for
DARPA.
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Alec Dafferner
Partner / Head
GP Bullhound
Technology Investment Banking
San Francisco
[Back to top] | Alec Dafferner
Alec
is a Partner and Head of GP Bullhound's San Francisco office. With over
11 years of technology investment banking experience, Alec has executed
over 40 transactions for emerging growth companies in the U.S. and
abroad, raising over $10 billion in capital and advising on over $2.5
billion in mergers and acquisitions. Prior to joining GP Bullhound in
2008, Alec was an Executive Director at UBS in the Global Technology
Investment Banking group where he focused primarily on the Digital
Media sector. With an extensive background in financing and advising
clients in the interactive entertainment sector, Alec has worked with
some of the leading companies in the industry, including Activision,
Midway, Infogrames/Atari, Jamdat, Eidos, Turbine, IGN Entertainment and
iFone. Prior to joining UBS in 2001, Alec worked at Volpe Brown Whelan
& Company in San Francisco where he focused on Internet,
Communications and Software-related technology companies. Alec is a
graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
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Jason Della Rocca Senior Consultant Perimeter Partners
[Back to top] |
Jason Della Rocca
Jason
is the founder of Perimeter Partners, a consultancy focused on helping
organizations successfully navigate the game industry ecosystem and
maximize their efforts in the interactive digital entertainment sector.
For nearly nine years, he served as the executive director of the
International Game Developers Association (IGDA), a professional
society committed to advancing the game industry and the careers of
developers. Jason was honored for his industry building efforts with
the inaugural Ambassador Award at the 8th annual Game Developers Choice
Awards. He continues to be an advocate for the expressive power of
games and their capacity to change the world.
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Scott Dodson COO Divide by Zero Games [Back to top]
| Scott DodsonA
serial entrepreneur, Scott founded and funded Flying Rhino Studios in
1994 and ran the company until its sale in 2005. Flying Rhino produced
award winning work for clients including: T-Mobile, Microsoft, Costco,
and Wizards of the Coast. He served as president of the Seattle
Advertising Federation (2001-2002). In 2004 he became President and CEO
of Tenacious Games, bootstrapping for two years and funding it with
over $2M of Angel Money in 2006 & 2007. Tenacious Games developed
and published the internationally acclaimed trading card game, The
Spoils™, launching to a top ten position in ten countries, before
selling to Arcane Tinmen (Denmark). In May 2008, Scott joined the
founding team of Divide by Zero Games and led its first two tranches of
VC funding before taking on operations as COO. He has a passion for
entrepreneurism, deal structure, and the capitalization of companies.
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John P. Elton Partner iNovia Capital [Back to top]
| John EltonJohn
Elton is a venture capitalist at iNovia Capital. He focuses on digital
media and software investments in Canada and the US. He also heads
iNovia’s US initiatives. Prior to joining iNovia, John spent several
years as a venture capitalist and advisor to startup companies
including dMarc Broadcasting (acquired by Google for up to $1.2
billion), for whom he helped raise $10 million and close an acquisition
while at Turnstone Capital. Prior to this, John co-managed a venture
capital fund for Gulf International Bank which invested in eMotion
(acquired by Corbis), Revenue Sciences, and Anystream. John also worked
as a consultant for McGill University’s technology transfer unit, a
partner institution of iNovia’s. John’s additional experience includes
having worked in strategic planning for 24/7 Media (acquired by WPP for
$649 million) and as an investment banker at Veronis Suhler Stevenson a
merchant banking firm focused on the media and communications
industries with capital committed exceeding $2.8 billion. John is
currently a member of, or an observer on the board of directors of
Collective Media, Standout Jobs and LegiTime Technologies. John
received an M.B.A. in Finance and Marketing from New York University
and holds a B.A. Degree in Economics from Lehigh University.
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Robert Ferrari VP Publishing & Business Development Sanrio Digital & Typhoon Games [Back to top]
| Robert Ferrari
Based
in Boston, MA, Robert Ferrari manages a network of partnerships and
initiatives in the Americas and Europe to promote and publish Sanrio
Digital projects, including Hello Kitty Online, SanrioTown,
and other initiatives in virtual worlds, gaming, and social networks on
PC, console and handheld platforms. Ferrari brings a wealth of global
business experience to Sanrio Digital. A highly respected veteran and
executive in the online games industry, he was previously vice
president of Business Development at Turbine Inc., a leading publisher
and developer of massively multiplayer online games. Having
joined Turbine in 2004, Ferrari was instrumental to the company's
strong growth and global expansion. He was responsible for strategic
partnerships, the company's transition to self-publishing, licensing,
digital distribution, and traditional retail channel initiatives. His
efforts contributed to the success of Turbine's award-winning online
games, including The Lord of the Rings Online™, Dungeons & Dragons
Online™: Stormreach™, and Asheron's Call®. Prior to his tenure at
Turbine, Ferrari held senior executive roles at interactive media and
consumer product companies, including the positions of vice president
of Sales and Business Development at Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG),
vice president of Business Development at Websurfer Inc, and executive
vice president of Sales and Marketing at Merinta Inc. Ferrari serves on
the executive committees of the MIT Games SIG, and the Mass Tech
Leadership Counsel Gaming Cluster. He is a high profile industry
speaker and very active in the speaking circuit.
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Brad Giblin Digital Media Manager
Film Victoria (AU)

[Back to top]
| Brad Giblin
Brad
is currently the Digital Media Manager at Film Victoria, a state based
government funding body in Australia. Film Victoria has directly
supported the video games industry in Victoria for over 10 years,
investing in the development of local original titles. Melbourne-based
game developers enjoy a reputation for innovation and excellence - from
our earliest games company Beam Software, who developed The Hobbit in
1982, to the highly successful original IP development in the Puzzle
Quest franchise by Infinite Interactive. While not sitting in front of
a console, Brad sits on the board of the Victorian Mobile Industry body
(Mobility Vic) and the board of the Interactive Media industry body
(AIMIA Victoria). In previous lives Brad produced radio, built a motion
capture studio, developed websites, video blogged music festivals,
designed a graphic design course, made an animation studio and a bunch
of other things you’d expect from someone who grew up with an unhealthy
attraction towards his Macintosh Classic.
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Nathon Gunn CEO Social Game Universe [Back to top]
| Nathon GunnNathon
co-founded Bitcasters, Citytv Interactive and Miramax New Media. Has a
degree in film and new media from Ryerson University. Innovations: 1994
backstage Grammys Webcast, first e-CDs for BMG, first major-label
secure digital music format for Universal and early user-generated
content initiative Bitcast.com. He’s won awards for games played 300+
million times, films and music videos and has spoken at Harvard, the
BBC Labs and the Banff Centre. He ran ‘Net strategy for the former
Canadian Prime Minister and is a fellow at Queen’s University’s Centre
for the Study of Democracy and a Director of the Ontario Media
Development Corporation. His latest venture, Social Game Universe
(backed by visionaries like Michael Cohl and Moses Znaimer) is
launching some of the most innovative ways to play with friends on
social networks.
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Justin Hall CEO GameLayers [Back to top]
| Justin HallAs
CEO of GameLayers, Justin Hall leads a crack team rapidly innovating on
social games. Their first Facebook game Dictator Wars augments the
social potential of casual RPGs with an outsized, aggressive scale.
Their earlier game PMOG / The Nethernet was an MMO in a Firefox toolbar
offering players a chance to play nice or make mischief on any web
site. Hall's professional experience includes work with HotWired,
electric minds, ZDTV, Gamers.com, Nokia’s TheFeature.com and the
Creative Artists Agency. Hall created one of the early extensive home
pages, “Justin’s Links from the Underground” in January 1994. In 2004,
the New York Times Magazine referred to him as “the founding father of
personal bloggers.” In May 2007, Hall graduated with an MFA from the
Interactive Media Division at the University of Southern California,
School of Cinematic Arts.
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Ian Kelso
President & CEO
Interactive Ontario [Back to top]
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Ian Kelso
Ian is the President & CEO and was a founding Director of Interactive Ontario (IO), the member-based industry trade association representing interactive digital media companies in Ontario, Canada. At IO Ian is responsible for the long-term strategy and has grown the organization over 500% in the past two years. Ian also created and is the Executive Producer of IN: the Interactive Exchange, Canada’s largest annual cross-platform event dedicated to the business of interactive media, as well as GameON: Finance, the world’s only annual conference dedicated to video game financing.
In 2007 Ian was elected President of the Canadian Interactive Alliance / L’alliance interactive canadienne (CIAIC), the united voice of Canada’s Interactive Media associations from coast to coast. He is also a founding Director of this organization.
As a strong advocate for the Interactive Media industry both provincially and nationally, Ian is a member of Ontario Game Strategy Steering Committee, CONCERT (Consortium on New Media, Creative and Entertainment R&D in the Toronto Region) Steering Committee, Trade Team Canada - Cultural Goods & Services, the Cultural Human Resources Council New Media Steering Committee and the Co-Chair of the Ontario Media Development Corporation’s Digital Media Advisory Committee.
Throughout the past 13 years Ian has worked as an executive and creative producer with a number of Interactive and television production companies including Primitive Entertainment, MediaLinx Interactive LLP / Sympatico, and TotalNet Inc.
He began his career in interactive in 1994 as Director of Media Services at Magic Online, one of Canada's first commercial online services. Ian has a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) from York University where he completed an individualized study programme concentrating in film, screenwriting, photography and creative writing. He is also the Founding President of the Creative Arts Students’ Association (CASA), the official student government for the Faculty of Fine Arts at York.
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Jim Laird Managing Director & CFO Bedlam Games [Back to top]
| Jim LairdJim
Laird is the Chief Financial Officer of Bedlam Games Inc. Jim is a
veteran finance executive with ten years of finance experience,
including seven years of experience in venture capital making
investments in high tech companies. He has made investments in the
gaming industry in companies like Groove Media and Transgaming Inc. Jim
was previously Vice President, Investments with Covington Capital,
which he joined in November 2002. Prior to Covington, Jim was a
managing partner with New Millennium Venture Partners, a high-tech
focused labour-sponsored venture fund and an institutional equity
analyst with HSBC Securities and Gordon Capital. Jim holds a BBA and
LLB degrees. Jim also serves on the Board of Directors of MITACS, an
National Centre of Excellence for the Mathematical Sciences. | |
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V. Paul Lee Co-Founder / General Partner VanEdge Capital
[Back to top]
| Paul LeeV. Paul Lee is the Managing General Partner of Vanedge Capital Partners Ltd., a venture capital fund established to focus on opportunities in the interactive digital media space. The market for interactive and digital entertainment and media is massive, growing, and changing at an extremely rapid pace. It affects the ways companies use the Internet to attract and engage target audiences and conduct commerce electronically. Lee is the former President of Electronic Arts, Inc., the global leader in interactive software, and was responsible for its Worldwide Studio group. Electronic Arts had fiscal 2008 revenues of US $3.67 billion. He managed more than 6,000 employees and US$1 billion in annual capital and operating expenses in the development studios making it the largest entertainment studio in the world. In 1987 Lee graduated from the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Commerce with Honours Degree and was one of six students selected to enter the prestigious Portfolio Management Fund program at the UBC Sauder School of Business. Lee is a Leslie Wong Fellow and is also a designated Chartered Financial Analyst. From 1987 – 1989 Lee worked at Chrysler Canada as an Investment Manager for the pension fund and health and welfare benefit plans.
Lee invested in and joined Distinctive Software as a Principal in 1989, having been a member of its board for several years prior. Distinctive Software became a leading independent videogame developer and was acquired by Electronic Arts in 1991. Lee has been a member of the executive management team since, holding a variety of positions.
1994 saw Lee recognized as one of the “40 Under 40” business leaders by Business in Vancouver. In 1996 he was awarded the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award from the University of British Columbia. In 2002 Lee was awarded the BC Technology Industries Association Person of the Year Award for his outstanding leadership in the high technology industry. Lee has also received numerous awards for his community service including the Commemorative Medal for the Golden Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for significant contribution in the form of public service in 2003. In 2005 he was recognized as an Honorary Fellow of the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business. Lee has served as Chair of the BC Technology Industries Association from 1998 to 2001. Lee was an investor and member of the Board of Directors of A.L.I. Technologies until its landmark sale to McKesson Corporation in 2002. Lee was Co-Chair, along with the Premier of British Columbia, of the Premier’s Technology Council from its inception in 2001 until 2005 and remains a member of the Council.
Lee currently serves as a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council for the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia, is a member of the Minister’s Steering Committee for the Vancouver International Financial Institutions Sector, and currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Vancouver Board of Trade and New Media B.C. He is Chair of the Board of Directors at D-Wave Systems, a company working to build the world’s first commercial quantum computer. | |
Ping Li Accel Partners
[Back to top] | Ping LiPing joined Accel in 2004 and focuses primarily on Information
Technology infrastructure (computing, networking, security and storage)
and digital media platforms. His areas of interest also include
datacenter virtualization, cloud computing (see below), distributed
data management and internet datacenter scalability. He currently is an
investor/Board Member of BitTorrent, Cloudera, Ludic Labs, Mochi Media, Mu Dynamics, Raptr, Verivue and YuMe; and he is actively involved in Imperva. Ping was also responsible for Accel’s investment in Reactivity (acquired by Cisco).
Prior to Accel, Ping was a Senior Product Line Manager and Director
of Corporate Development at Juniper Networks. He managed Juniper's
flagship M-series router product portfolio. In addition, Ping worked on
Juniper's acquisition of Netscreen Technologies ($3.5 billion
transaction) and led all subsequent security and routing product and
R&D integration activities. He also worked as a strategy consultant
for Mckinsey & Company, advising technology clients in their growth
strategies.
Ping has extensive international experience as well. At Singapore
Telecom, he served directly for the executive management team in
assessing and investing in Asian growth opportunities. Prior to
SingTel, Ping worked at Goldman Sachs Asia, transacting large PTT
privatizations and advising technology clients on growth strategy and
operations. Ping continues to be active in China by working closely
with Oak Pacific Interactive (Xiaonei) and IDG-Accel China Fund.
Ping holds an A.B. from Harvard University, with honors, and an M.B.A. from Stanford University. | | 
Jon Mak Queasy Games
[Back to top]
| Jon MakA
couple years ago, Jonathan Mak made a game called Everyday Shooter for
PS3 and PC. Prior to that, he worked on a lesser known, multiplayer,
action-rts game called Gate 88. He also contributed to TOJam #1 and
TOJam #3 with the games Flowers of Error and TOJam Thing. Currently
he's collaborating on his next game with Toronto musician, I Am Robot
And Proud.
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Yannis Mallat Chief Executive Officer Ubisoft Montreal & Toronto [Back to top]
| KEYNOTE SPEAKER - Yannis MallatGraduating
with honours from the French High School of Abidjan (Ivory Coast),
Yannis Mallat worked in humanitarian aid in West Africa for three years
before pursuing his graduate studies in Paris, where he earned a
Master’s Degree in International Agronomy and Economic Development. He
then returned to Africa where he worked for an NGO on a variety of
rural development projects.
Upon his arrival in Canada,
Yannis Mallat achieved an MBA at the Montreal HEC before joining
Ubisoft in January 2000 where he successively held the positions of
Third Party Producer, Producer, and Executive Producer – New IP’s, all
paving the way for his current position.
Yannis Mallat has
been CEO of Ubisoft Montreal since March 2006, and is still very much
involved in the production of every game developed at the studio.
For
Yannis, the key to success stems from the creation of passionate teams
and in the capacity to capture the energy and magic that surrounds game
development. His driving goal is to deliver emotionally engaging gaming
experiences that exploit the interactive nature of the medium to its
fullest.
In July 2006, the Official PlayStation Magazine (US
edition) named Yannis Mallat as one of the 20 most influential
personalities of the international video game industry. Ubisoft
Montréal is currently ranked third best game development studio in the
world as per the Top 50 Developers ranking published by Game Developers
Magazine (no. 1 gaming publication).
Yannis Mallat has worked on
an extensive list of titles, including Assassins’ Creed, the
multi-million selling trilogy of the Sands of Time (Prince of Persia
The Two Thrones, Prince of Persia Warrior Within, Prince of Persia The
Sands of Time) as well as Rayman Advance.
| | The Hon. Sandra Pupatello Minister of Economic Development & Trade [Back to top] | The Hon. Sandra Pupatello
Known for her distinguished record of community service and her
dedication to improving the lives of all Ontarians, Sandra Pupatello’s
career in the Ontario legislature dates back to 1995 when she was first
elected to the Windsor West riding.
Pupatello was
appointed Minister of Economic Development and Trade in June 2009. The
new ministry combines three previous ministries: Small Business,
International Trade and Investment, and Economic Development.
As
part of her expanded portfolio, Pupatello is dedicated to sustaining
and enhancing the economic competitiveness and growth of Ontario
businesses, and creating high-value jobs for Ontario families by both
attracting international investment and helping domestic businesses
transition to more innovative industries. Working to improve the
relationship between business and government, Pupatello remains
committed to developing new opportunities for the next generation of
Ontario’s highly skilled workers
Pupatello was
appointed the Minister of International Trade and Investment in 2008.
She previously served as Minister of Economic Development and Trade,
Minister of Education, Minister of Community and Social Services and
Minister Responsible for Women’s Issues.
Pupatello
has deep roots in the Windsor community. She was named honorary member
of the Rotary Club of Windsor and a Paul Harris Fellow. In 2001, the
University of Windsor honoured her with the prestigious Charlie Clark
Award for Outstanding Service. In March 2003, Pupatello was named
“Windsor Woman of the Year”. In 2007, she received the prestigious
Athena Award for the Windsor area, which recognizes men and women who
provide a positive role model to encourage women to achieve their
leadership potential in business. In January 2009, Pupatello was
presented with the Award of Excellence in Community Service by The
Canadian-Italian Business and Professional Association in Windsor.
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Erik Robertson Managing Director
Nordic Game Program [Back to top] | Erik Robertson
Erik
Robertson is the Managing Director of the Nordic Game Program. Its
mission is to ensure access to quality Nordic computer games for
children and young people.
Erik Robertson has never had a proper
job. Instead he has, with varying success, run his own businesses,
mostly where the IT and marketing fields meet. He has started a dozen
or so companies, and has developed computer games since 1997. After
preparatory work in 2004-05, he has lead the Nordic Game Program since
January 2006. The program is a part of the official Nordic cultural
co-operation, between Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden,
and is fully financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers. Erik also
founded the Malmö NyföretagarCenter enterprise agency, and the trade
organizations Spelplan-ASGD and European Games Developer Federation. He
has Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Business Administration degrees
from Lund University and has also published internationally in the
field of entrepreneurship research. | |  Greg Short Executive Director
EEDAR [Back to top] | Greg Short
With
over ten years experience in developing community integrated data
services for some of the largest massively multiplayer games available,
Greg Short is one of the world’s leading experts in maximizing the
acquisition, retention and monetization of gaming communities. As
Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of Electronic Entertainment Design
and Research (EEDAR), Greg provides experiential guidance to the
executive team for overall business management and product development
of their world leading analytic services for the videogame industry. Prior to working with EEDAR, Greg served as Director of Product
Management for Sony Online Entertainment and was the driving force
behind SOE's industry leading data driven web sites and Station Players
services. Australian-born, now based in Southern California, Greg is a
graduate in law from the University of Queensland and is an avid wine
collector. | |

John Sutyak
DDM [Back to top]
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KEYNOTE SPEAKER - John Sutyak
John Sutyak has been an executive in the game industry for more than 15 years. As one of the founding members of Hasbro Interactive (HI), the interactive gaming arm of Hasbro Corporation, he served as Chief Creative Officer. John was responsible for companywide acquisition and managing relationships with major licensors in the entertainment industry. He led HI in the acquisition of Atari and was involved in the purchase of Microprose, as well as other publishers, brands, and development studios. Following Atari’s purchase by Infogrames, John continued his role as Chief Creative Officer with the new Atari. Establishing vision and new product direction, he sourced and created relationships with exceptional talent and brands in the game and entertainment industry.
Following Atari, John consulted in the game and interactive media space working with entrepreneurs and start ups, as well as established companies. Presently, John is focusing on business development and alternative funding with Digital Development Management (DDM). One of the largest representation agencies in the world, DDM serves some of the top independent video game studios. John has served on the board of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) and collaborated in the creation of the D.I.C.E. conference, a preeminent gaming conference for executives.
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Karen Thorne-Stone President & CEO Ontario Media Development Corporation
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Karen Thorne-Stone
Karen Thorne-Stone was appointment President and CEO of the Ontario Media Development Corporation in July 2007.
The OMDC
is a provincial agency which supports economic development in Ontario’s
cultural media industries. In this capacity, Karen is responsible to
promote growth and investment in the province’s entertainment and
creative industries including: film and television, interactive digital
media, music, book and magazine publishing.
Previously Karen
was with the city of Toronto, where, for over 18 years, she served in a
variety of roles, including film commissioner and executive director of
economic development. As film commissioner, Thorne-Stone supported
successful negotiations for a new state-of-the-art film studio complex
on Toronto’s waterfront, developed an innovative economic development
strategy for the screen-based sector and workedwith the OMDC on the
development of a new brand positioning and marketing materials to
promote film and television production.
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 Wade Tinney Partner, Game Designer, Producer
Large Animal
[Back to top] | Wade Tinney
Wade
has been designing and developing games since 1996. He founded Large
Animal Games with Josh Welber in January of 2001. He was the founding
editor of the Casual Games Quarterly and has led the New York City
Chapter of the International Game Developers Association since 2006. After
spending five years in the casual downloadable games market, Large
Animal is now focused entirely on publishing games that connect
friends, on networks like Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, and Twitter, as well
as on mobile devices such as the iPhone. Their Toga platform enables
the deployment of games and the management of a virtual goods economy
across all of these distribution channels. Recent titles include Bumper
Stars, Bananagrams, Lucky Strike Lanes, Twivial, and What to Wear. For
more information about Large Animal, please visit www.largeanimal.com or connect with Wade on Twitter. |
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Hong-Yee Wong CEO
IUGO Mobile Entertainment
[Back to top] | Hong-Yee Wong
Dr.
Wong has more than ten years of passionate leadership experience in
computer graphics, visualization, and digital entertainment. Most
recently, he founded IUGO Mobile Entertainment – an energetic game
studio based in Vancouver. In just a few short years, IUGO has become a
leading independent game studio developing and publishing premium games
on all mobile platforms, including the iPhone. Before leading the
charge as a technopreneur, he excelled in his previous career as a
Research Scientist, directing multi-disciplinary research in Immersive
Visualization and Rich Media Entertainment. Dr. Wong earned his
Doctorate in Computer Science from the University of Western Ontario.
He is well published and has supervised research at several
universities.
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Agnes Zak Regional Director, Business Development – Ontario & Nunavut Regions, Telefilm Canada.
[Back to top]
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Agnes Zak
Agnes Zak is the Regional Director, Business Development – Ontario & Nunavut Regions, Telefilm Canada.
Ms. Zak
possesses impressive experience in both the high-tech and
start-up sectors. She honed her digital media expertise at ExtendMedia
Inc., a software and media services company. Her hands on experience
of technical and creative aspects of digital media created a perfect
match for Telefilm’s Canada New Media Fund, which she joined as an
Analyst in2001.
Since then Agnes has held the positions of
Analyst,Television and New Media, and Analyst, Feature Film before
being appointed to lead and manage New Media Unit. In her role of
Regional Director, Business Development Agnes is responsible for making
financing decisions for English-language new media concepts from the
Ontario region.
As the Regional Director, Business Development
Ms. Zak’s plays a key role in helping to achieve Telefilm’s
vision: “Canadian talent, creating Canadian content that engages
Canadians and the world.” Her focus is on regional business development,
which includes building and strengthening relations with stakeholders
and contributors, identifying special programs, events and initiatives
to stimulate the project pipeline, build local talent and improve
client capacity to succeed in a multiplatform environment. |
View the line-up from the Ontario Game Summit 2008 and GameON: Finance 2.0 here.
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