SGC 2024 Keynote Speaker Ben Kvalo is an entertainment and video games industry leader, most recently supporting the build-out of films and games at Netflix. Prior to Netflix, Ben has worked at two of the largest global video game companies, 2K and Blizzard, working across various roles in the publishing, marketing, and technology end of games and Esports.
Read MoreSGC 2024 Keynote Speaker Renee Gittins leads Stumbling Cat, an indie studio based in Seattle, and is a multi-disciplinary leader with expertise in business operations, software engineering, and creative direction.
Read MoreSGC 2024 Keynote Speaker, Benjamin Carcich! Ben spent time on League of Legends post-launch (2011-2017) and was on VALORANT while it was in R&D. Ben is a certified co-active coach and official ICAgile trainer. He’s been teaching concepts around Agility, Production, and Game Development Leadership since 2015. He co-hosts the Building Better Games podcast and newsletter and has spoken at multiple events including GDC 2024.
Read MoreChris Bergman is the CEO of Gylee Games, a games studio based in Cincinnati, OH. He's also a General Partner at The Fund Midwest, a venture fund he co-founded in 2020. Chris is also the co-owner of Cosmic Gorilla, a comic shop bar in Cincinnati, and the founder of ChoreMonster, which sold to Verizon in 2018. In his spare time, Chris DJs as an EDM artist under the name "Bergs." He says, “It's kinda cringe”, but he enjoys it.
Read MoreTim Aldridge is the Director of Game Mods/UGC at Twitch, where he is responsible for the game mod platform, CurseForge. Before coming to Twitch, he was the Director of Web for the Curse App and built Gamepedia at Curse. Tim started out modding StarCraft before jumping to Neverwinter Nights, and recently Stardew Valley. His passion is to help developers bring their creations to the world.
Read MoreMark Stefanowicz has been in game development for 22+ years. He has worked on all types of games including Epic Mickey and Epic Mickey 2: The Power Of Two, NCAA Football, Madden, numerous children’s games, mobile games, and more. For the past 3 years he has been with Lost Boys Interactive where he is a Co-Founder and Studio Art Director in Madison, Wisconsin. Lost Boys Interactive has worked on Call of Duty Online, Survived By, LOTR, Rune and PUBG as well as their own original IP ZPOC and Neverland. Mark also works in comics and has done work on George R.R. Martins The Hedge Knight, Image Comics and his self-published title Waterdogs.
Website: https://www.markstef.com
Jason Conaway is a Co-founder of Exultant Games, a new game studio working hard on creating something special for strategy-minded players. For more than two decades, Jason Conaway has been a Software Engineer and Technical Director in the video games industry. Jason’s developer credits include engineering roles on more than a dozen blockbuster video games, including League of Legends for Riot Games, Star Wars: The Old Republic for BioWare, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 for EA Los Angeles, Bulletstorm for People Can Fly, Golden Eye: Rogue Agent for EA Los Angeles, Return to Krondor for PyroTechnix, and several titles in the Medal of Honor series for DreamWorks Interactive and Electronic Arts. Jason is also a Senior Instructor at Game-U, where he teaches students how to design, build, and program their own video games using professional tools and methods.
Website: http://www.exultantgames.com/
Read MoreMimi Page is a singer, songwriter, record producer, sound designer and composer. Her cinematic music and ethereal vocals have been featured in a multitude of well-known titles and platforms, including network television shows, video games, film scores, solo albums, and multi-genre artist collaborations. Mimi's music is a transformative and emotionally captivating experience. While her unique sound compliments visual media, it also inspires listeners to go inward and explore the expansiveness of their own imagination.
Website: https://www.mimipage.com/
Read MoreDustin was raised in rural Utah, where his imagination was his most constant companion. A reader, artist, and gamer from an early age, Dustin was encouraged to mine his talents, follow his passions, and find the fun in everyday life. Dustin studied art in college and entered the exciting world of video game development in 1994. His career has taken him and his family from coast to coast, but he always considered the small town he grew up in, Ephraim, Utah, his true home. After spending two decades with AAA publishers like EA, Sony, and Hasbro, Dustin, his wife, and four kids moved back to Ephraim, where he lives today in the shadows of a fine mountain, writes books about video games and dinosaurs, and takes long walks with his dog, Rusty. Dustin is currently working as a game director for Amber Studio, one of the most exciting international games service companies on the planet. Dustin's creative bounds are put to the test daily as he leads the new projects pitch team in over one hundred game concepts a year...and counting. Oh, and he loves the Utah Jazz, but that's another story altogether.
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