Keynote
Josh Fairhurst
Co-founder and CEO, Limited Run Games and Mighty Rabbit Studios
Josh started his gaming career in 2008 as a tester on Gears of War 2 while in his third year at NC State University. Upon graduating, Josh founded Mighty Rabbit Studios to develop his own games. In late 2015 …
Steve Reid
Managing Director, Red Storm Entertainment - an Ubisoft studio
Steve Reid is the managing director (20+ years) and co-founder of Red Storm Entertainment. With an MFA from East Carolina University, Steve has taught a variety of college art disciplines and has a history …
Speakers
Richard Dansky
TGI Narrative Lead; Narrative Director, Red Storm/Ubisoft
Richard Dansky is a 22 year veteran of the video game industry. He has written for franchises including Rainbow Six, Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon …
Justin Johnson
TGI Education Lead; Assistant Professor and Undergraduate Coordinator of Art + Design, NCSU
Justin is an Assistant Professor of Art + Design and Doctor of Design practitioner at North Carolina State University. With over 13 years of experience in the game industry in a variety of roles including: level designer, environment artist, lead environment artist, character artist, and UI designer …
Brad Swearingen
Professor, Simulation and Game Development - WTCC
Brad Swearingen has been instructing students in 3d and game related topics for over 20 years. He is currently a Professor in Wake Tech Community College’s Simulation and Game Development …
Jonathan White
Game Designer, Four Eyes Productions
Jonathan is a game designer who loves combat and monsters. He enjoys making games with varied styles of play and randomized gameplay, such as his recently launched The Last Sunshine: Rekindled from Four Eyes Productions.
Sarah Glova
CEO, Reify Media
Dr. Sarah Glova is the CEO of the award-winning digital media firm Reify Media, and she is an international public speaker who has spoken from California to Qatar on topics ranging …
Troy Maynard
Founder / Creative Director / Lead Developer, Nuldrums
Troy (Trikeri) is the founder, creative director, and primary developer at Nuldrums. The company started with development of the indie game, Native, that was worked on from 2014 – 2016 …
Amber Johnson
Associate Professor, Wake Technical Community College
Amber Johnson is an Associate Professor in Simulation and Game Development at Wake Tech Community College. She has worked in the game industry as an artist and level designer …
Maripat Metcalf
President, Health Impact Studio
I’ve been interested in using unconventional teaching methods since I first worked at the Insect Zoo at the Smithsonian. Since then, I’ve forayed into math, programming, science education …
Eddy Webb
Owner/Narrative Designer, Pugsteady
Eddy Webb (with a “y,” thank you) is a writer, design consultant, and game and narrative designer for video games and RPGs. He’s worked on over 150 books and games during his career and created …
Phaedra Boinodiris
Trust in AI Business Transformation Leader, IBM
A fellow with the London-based Royal Society of Arts, Boinodiris has focused on inclusion in technology since 1999. She is currently the business transformation leader for IBM’s Responsible AI …
Saritdikhun Somasa
Assistant Professor, East Tennessee State University
Saritdikhun Somasa (Sarit) has three degrees in Art Education, a BFA In Visual Design, and an MFA in Multimedia Design. He taught digital arts focusing on 3D digital form and animation …
Paxton Galvanek
General Manager, Funcom
Paxton Galvanek is the Studio HR/Operations Director at Funcom (makers of Conan Exiles, Conan Chop Chop, Anarchy Online, Secret World, and currently DUNE games). Paxton oversees Funcom’s Operations …
Jesse Henning
VFX Artist II, Funcom
Being an avid gamer his whole life, Jesse originally picked up his first 3D program, Blender, in 2010 to make video games, but found another passion as well – filmmaking.
Garrett Swanson
Co-Founder & CEO, World to Build
Garrett Swanson leads the World to Build team as an engineer and as the CEO. With only a few years in the professional game industry, he is writing this bio to try and fit in with the other amazing speakers at ECGC.
Tony O’Driscoll
Adjunct Professor, Duke University - The Fuqua School of Business
Tony O’Driscoll is a professor, speaker, author, and advisor whose engaging message emphasizes that the key digital-age differentiator is not technology, but people. Dr. O’Driscoll’s current …
Todd Emma
Professor, East Tennessee State University
Todd spent several years in Fort Lauderdale, FL where he operated his design studio “Voodoo Designs” and taught at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. He later became the Director of Marketing and Web Design at Steeda Auto Sports …
Travis Brown
Student, William Peace University
Travis Brown is a graduating senior at William Peace University, pursuing a BA in Simulation and Game Design. His game design focus area …
Aris Bricker
Associate Game Designer, Ubisoft Red Storm
Aris Bricker (they/them) is a game designer, instructor, and student mentor who specializes in neurodiverse and queer issues. Aris lives in North Carolina with their partners, pets, and plants.
Augustus Wendell
Assistant Professor of the Practice of Art, Art History & Visual Studies, Duke University
Augustus Wendell is an educator, technologist and designer. Augustus has an MFA in Computer Art from The School of Visual Arts and an undergraduate degree from Northeastern University. He researches the …
Eric Patterson
Director of Digital Production Arts, Clemson University
Eric Patterson, Ph.D. is currently Director of the Digital Production Arts program and Associate Professor in the Visual Computing Division of Clemson University’s School of Computing. He was formerly …
Max Litvinov
Senior Gameplay Engineer, Red Storm Entertainment | Ubisoft
Max Litvinov is a gameplay engineer. He has previously worked on a wide range of gameplay systems and mechanics for the following games: Cookie Jam Blast, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Assassin’s Creed VR, and Tom Clancy’s The Division Heartland.
Matt Merino
Student, William Peace University
Matt Merino is a graduating senior at William Peace University, pursuing a BA in Simulation and Game Design. His focus areas in game development are Sound Design and Level Design …
Ted Prawat
Assistant Professor of Computer Game Design, George Mason University
Professor (Ted) Prawat has been involved in the serious games field for the last decade. Professor Prawat was drawn into the field of serious game design after completing an artist in residence and teaching position …
Jay Powell
Founder & CEO, The Powell Group
Jay has successfully negotiated and closed countless deals for licensing, development and distribution over the past 25 years. His consulting firm, The Powell Group, focuses on building …
Jessica Baron
Ph.D. Candidate; Visual Computing, Clemson University
Jessica Baron is a Ph.D. candidate in Visual Computing at Clemson University based in Charleston. She has extensive experience through internships and travel. Her professional internships …
David Klingler
Founder & President, Solanimus Games
Hi I’m David, and as you can see, I don’t write about myself in third-person. I founded Solanimus in 2011, NonZeroSoul in 2019, co-founded Integrity Metric Systems in 2020, and co-founded …
Franci Dimitrovska
Game Writer & Assc. Content Manager, EA
Franci Dimitrovska is a Toronto-based narrative designer, currently an Assoc. Content Manager and Game Writer at Electronic Arts. Currently helming the narrative effort at …
Raymond Arifianto
VP of Tech, AccelByte
Raymond Arifianto has been making online games and platforms for over 15 years, working at Xbox, Lionhead, EA and Ubisoft. He is now working as VP of tech at AccelByte, a one-stop shop for live game services.
Billy Le Voir-Barry
President & Chief Esports, GENERATION Esports and Video Game Consulting
Billy Le Voir-Barry served as CTO for IBM Esports and Video Games and has 15+ years of tech consulting, architecture planning, and agile/scrum project management experiences in gaming/esports. He is widely considered to be …
Xiang Li
Ph.D. Candidate, Clemson University
Xiang Li is a Ph.D. candidate in the Visual Computing Division of Clemson University’s School of Computing. His research mainly focuses on computer graphics, primarily concentrating on facial reconstruction and rendering.
Brandon Crews
Assistant Professor of Simulation and Game Design, William Peace University
Brandon is from Tarboro, NC and lives in Garner, NC. He is an assistant professor of Simulation and Game Design at William Peace University and a technical animator who focuses on 3D character rigging, animation …
Stefan Hall
Chair and Associate Professor - Game Design, High Point University
Stefan Hall is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Game Design at High Point University. Recognized in 2017 and again in 2022 as a Top 50 Game Design Program …
Andrew Shaver
Realization Director, Ubisoft Redstorm
Shaver is an award-winning Canadian performer, producer and director. He is the Realization Director for Ubisoft Redstorm, helming the cinematics on a AAA game in Virtual Reality. He also directed the cinematics for Ubisoft’s Far Cry New Dawn.
Megan Smith
Graduate Student and Lead Animator, East Tennessee State University
Megan Smith holds a Bachelor of Science degree from East Tennessee State University, obtained in 2019, and is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts. She majors in Digital Media with a concentration in Animation …
Kenneth Hubbell
Owner, Wish and a Prayer Studio
Ken cut his teeth creating games for learning back when playing with rocks was fun. He had the fortune of working with Tom Clancy, Michael Crichton, NASA …
Michael Schmitt
Independent Game Developer & Organizer, Too Much Tomato / Triangle Interactive Arts Collective
Michael (he/him) is an independent game developer and organizer for the Triangle Interactive Arts Collective. He’s currently working on the weird sci-fi puzzle game, TENDY: Robot Gardener, for the upcoming CosmOS9 bundle.
Jacy Richardson
Assistant Professor and 3D/VFX Artist, East Tennessee State University
Jacy is currently an Assistant Professor for the Digital Media program at East Tennessee State University. She also still works in the industry as a 3D/VFX artist and has focused much of her work on interactive experiences in museums.
Stephen Overton
Producer, East Tennessee State University
Stephen is a detail-oriented individual who graduated from ETSU with a B.S in Digital Game Design in May 2021. Following graduation, his passion for expanding his ever-growing knowledge of 3D art led him to pursue …
Ethan Levy
Executive Producer - N3TWORK Studios
Ethan Levy is a 20 year veteran game designer and producer who has contributed to over 70 shipped games across every genre and platform. He has worked at companies including EA, BioWare …
Justin Achilli
Creative Director, Paradox Interactive
Justin Achilli is a games-industry veteran, with more than 25 years making commercial games. His resume includes stints at a number of studios and developers, including …
Zachariah Inks
Instructor, Western Piedmont Community College
Zachariah Inks is an artist from birth, designer and programmer by training, and an educator in heart. He has worked as a 2D / 3D artist and designer / programmer in the application of gaming …
Grayson Wiles
Graduate Student and Producer, East Tennessee State University
Grayson graduated from ETSU in May of 2021 with a Bachelor’s degree in Digital Media Art Design. After graduating, his passion for character art led him back to ETSU’s Digital Media graduate program.
Mauricio Hollando
Senior Engineering Manager, Pocket Gems
Mauricio is a Senior Engineering Manager at Pocket Gems were he recently participated in the release of their latest game, Adventure Chef. Before that, Mauricio was directing …
Alex Loughran
Senior Game Designer, PUBG Madison
Alex Loughran (He/Him) is a Game Designer who’s worked all over the globe on myriad of different projects, including some in mobile, VR, and AAA. Now living in Madison …
Gregory Grimsby
Assistant Professor, Game Design; Owner of Ogre Crossing Games
Gregory Grimsby, Assistant Professor in Computer Game Design, earned his MFA in painting from George Mason University. He has been teaching 3D modeling and animation …
Alex Epstein
Principal Writer, Compulsion Games
Alex Epstein was the Narrative Director of WE HAPPY FEW for Compulsion Games, as well as Story Director of CONTRAST, and Narrative Lead of STORIES: THE PATH OF DESTINIES for Spearhead Games.
Joseph Mora
Game Designer and Environment Artist, Blackberry Studio
I am an Environment Artist and Game Designer that is graduating from East Tennessee State University with a B.S. in Digital Media. In addition, I’m the sole director, artist, developer, and animator …
Suzanne Peterson-Warr
Author and Game Designer
Suzanne Warr grew up in an alternate universe from the one we all live in every day. When she stepped into a classroom for the very first time as a sophomore in high school, she found …
Iris Cole
Executive Administrator, Do Good Artist
Iris Cole is the founder and CEO of Do Good Artist. She is also a social entrepreneur and Founding Partner of She Raises the Bar, a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainability consulting firm.
Rachel Presser
Owner, Sonic Toad Media LLC
Rachel Presser is a game developer, writer, consultant, business educator, and speaker from The Bronx, now headquartered in Los Angeles. Former CFO and Executive Producer of Himalaya Studios, Rachel …