Blog Bios
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Rick Austinson is an environmental artist and writer living in California. His blend of creative skills and unconventional thinking produce a wide array of unique artistic and textual works. He operates an amateur writing club at the local library and coaches a lego robotics team for First Lego League.
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Ellen Beeman describes herself as mom, wife, videogame producer, author, gadget geekette, Celtic fiddler, former TV writer and city commissioner, etc. She began her games career as a project manager at Sierra, then joined Origin to write and direct games in the Wing Commander series. She has also held salaried positions at Electronics Arts, Monolith, and Microsoft. As a freelancer, she worked for Disney, Sega, Leapfrog, Mary-Margaret Network, and other companies. Prior to her games career, Ellen was a children's television writer, and has published four novels and numerous short stories and non-fiction articles. Ellen has been a speaker at the Game Developer Conference, SXSW Interactive, and other game industry events. |
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Jo Blankenburg is obsessed with sculpting unsuspecting air-molecules to create highly emotional music for film and interactive media. For more information please visit: http://www.joblankenburg.com |
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Richard Brest brings over a decade of experience in media marketing to The Rundown. Before starting The Rundown, he launched the Call of Duty videogame brand as Global Brand Manager at Activision, Inc. Prior to this, Brest served in brand management, sales marketing and media buying assignments at Quaker Oats, Discovery Networks and MediaVest. He holds an MBA in marketing, management & strategy from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern and an undergraduate degree from Brown University. |
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John Canning is the senior director of business development for Mary-Margaret Network. When he is not neck deep in the games industry, you can find him wielding a camera in some random remote part of the world. He can be reached at John at Mary-Margaret dot com. |
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One of the many superstar game designers who helped bring Activision into the spotlight, Steve Cartwright's resume of accomplishments is a long and distinguished one. His pioneering accomplishments include EA's first multimedia sports game, first multiplayer sports game, first "casual" sports games, and first Sony Playstation titles. He's a patent co-holder on internet gameplay - and now consults as an expert in all aspects of design, production, and development.
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Jim Cochrun has nearly two decades of experience recruiting for corporations such as F100 (Dell, Inc), consulting for GE Capital and working for search firms and as an entrepreneur. He has a passion for connecting people who possess what he calls the "trifecta" (wicked smart, strong shoulders and big heart) with opportunities that allow them to continue to grow while driving their businesses forward. |
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Norma Crippen is vice president of executive recruiting and client services at Mary-Margaret Network. Her 20-year career in recruiting spans games and high tech. She spent several years at legendary game developer Origin Systems. She may be contacted at norma at mary-margaret dot com. |
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Neil Davidson has worked for 15 years in the games industry as a Software Engineer. In the past he has developed games on various platforms for different companies including Plane Crazy, Matt Hoffman's Pro BMX and The Ship. He is currently working for an Edinburgh based company VEEMEE LLP. |
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Wendy Despain, of International Hobo, has wide experience in games and viral media/marketing. Her credits include writer and/or designer on "Bratz: Forever Diamondz", "Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks", and other titles. She consulted on the design of Cartoon Network's MMO "Fusion Fall" and she was also the lead designer and writer for Alternative Reality Games (ARG's) for Gene Roddenbery's Andromeda, Earth Final Conflict and Mutant X. |
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Noah Falstein, one of the first ten employees at Lucasfilm Games/LucasArts, The 3DO Company, Dreamworks Interactive and the first elected chairman of the IGDA, has cemented his place as an icon of the industry. He has created games in many genres, including Sinistar, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, and Hungry Red Planet. Noah went free-lance in 1996, establishing a solid reputation as a design guru. His recent design credits include the Mata Hari game from DTP, and the Cisco Mind Share Game, a Serious Game for training network engineers under his design.
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Larry Goldberg is an entrepreneur, executive and attorney with significant staff and line expertise developed across various industries. He was an important member of the senior management team that transformed Activision from a small company into a multi-billion dollar industry leader. Larry currently is the President and CEO of Morrison Pearl, a wholly-owned angel investment and business consulting firm.
Larry began his professional career as an attorney in private practice in Los Angeles, focusing on business transactions in the media and entertainment industries. He is a graduate of the UCLA School of Law and Cornell University.
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Karen Halloran is a lifelong video game lover; and more recently a game designer and writer with a degree in film studies. She can be contacted at khalloran1 at gmail dot com. |
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Bob Ingold has been working in the slots business for about 14 years as an artist. He started working in video games at Prolific Publishing. Casino Data Systems contracted the team at Prolific Publishing and eventually hired the whole Bay Area team. He has been working on slots ever since. He has also enjoyed working with 3D Printing and Vacuum Forming at C2 Gaming. Bob has found Las Vegas to be a good central location in hunting for Indian Rock Art. connect with Bob at BINGOLD@COX.NET or http://www.linkedin.com/in/bobingold. |
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Antonia Ipser is a student at Harker High School. An aspiring writer with a strong interest in "Doctor Who" and a love for stories, she enjoys reading XKCD, sleeping until noon, and researching zombies. |
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Chris Keeling is a Game Designer and Writer credited on several video games, including “Panzer Elite”, “America’s Army”, “Twilight War”, and “Order of War”, and has also designed tabletop games. He is currently nearing completion of an MFA in Videogame Production and Design at National University and is a combat veteran with over 20 years of military service. To learn more, please visit his online portfolio at: www.chriskeeling.com |
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David W. Kralik is director of internet strategy and manager of the Silicon Valley office of American Solutions, a national grassroots group founded by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. |
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Benjamin Krotin is President and Lead Designer at 1988 Games, where he is currently pursuing the well-received original Wii IP Zombie Massacre. In addition to managing the day-to-day operations of 1988 Games, Ben is also a contributing writer for Cigar Press Magazine. Across the game industry and beyond, Ben continues to leverage his age and experience to enhance and contribute to various projects, all while simultaneously continuing to build a strong professional network. Ben can be reached by e-mail at: ben.krotin@1988games.com.
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A gamer from the age of five, Luis Levy has been an avid console and PC player since his first PC-XT in 1989! He started working in the game industry as a QA tester for Activision – on Quake 4 PC – and later joined Treyarch as a production tester on Call of Duty 3. Besides his work in PR for games as an Assistant Account Executive at The Bohle Company, Luis is also co-author of "Play the Game: The Parent's Guide to Video Games" and "Game Development Essentials: Game QA & Testing" with the multi-talented Jeannie Novak. Luis was born in São Paulo, Brazil and attended Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado (FAAP), receiving a BA in Film & Television. He may be contacted at: luis@bohle.com or you can follow him on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AtmanRising.
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Alan K. Lipton calls himself a fictioneer because he brings his core storytelling skills to any project that uses language to entertain, educate or otherwise engage. To learn more, visit http://users.lmi.net/fiction/ |
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Heather Logas has a master's in game design and theory from Georgia Tech's Graduate Program in Digital Media and has been designing and writing for games in the industry for five years. She is passionate about online game experiences, "player-first" design and comfy pajamas. She may be contacted at heatherleelogas at gmail dot com. |
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Ron Meiners began working in games at Mplayer.com in 1997, and has not looked back. Strangely enough, he is still inspired by the potential of online community, both as a new and powerful experience for the player and as a key component for a successful game. |
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Bruce C. Milligan is currently a project manager with the Simulation and Training Environment Lab (SiTEL), in Washington, D.C., a division of MedStar Health, where he is also the lead designer for Code Orange 2.0, a first person RPG intended to help teach hospital staff how to deal with a mass casualty incident. He has been designing and managing the development of serious games for government, the military, and hospitals since 2004, and has been in the game industry since avatars were made from cardboard. |
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Jon Nelson most recently was the Director of Online Marketing and Strategy at Disney Interactive Studios. He held similar positions at J2 Global Communications, Princess Cruise Lines and Atari, Inc. Prior to his four years at Atari, he managed various global brands at many L.A. based interactive agencies including Direct Partners, Rare Medium and Magnet Interactive. In addition to his online experience, he also has nine years of traditional agency experience from DMB&B Advertising where he was the Senior Producer. |
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Ron Noble has been cartooning since childhood. He as created many well known comic strips, illustrations for children's books, animated shorts, and TV storyboards. His honors include Best Traditional Animated Film at the 1997 CSUN Int. Animation Festival and an Outstanding Children's Animation Program Emmy in 2002-2003 as director on "Rugrats". In 2007 Noble also co-founded an L.A. animation networking group called ANIMATION ARMY, hosting free monthly networking events at major animation studios all over L.A. Noble is now developing, pitching and producing his own animated shorts, TV series and features through his independent animation and illustration company Noble Town Studios. You can view Noble’s latest shorts at http://www.youtube.com/user/RonNobleTown. |
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While working full-time, Chris Park also writes for GotGame.com, Punkbands.com, PadsAndPanels.com, and runs his own website, wakesidevision.com. Each site focuses on different subjects in the realm of video games, music, and movies. When he has a free moment, he actually plays the video games he covers online. With the ever changing landscape of the electronic entertainment industry, he's always waiting for the next great thing to write about. |
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Stephen Peacock has been fortunate to meet and work with many great teachers from many cultures and walks of life. They have shared their stories generously and showed him that there is always more to learn if you are open to having your world view challenged. His blog is his way of paying it forward. |
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Perspicacity has been making games for more than 20 years specializing in interactive fiction, MMO's and Children's games. She may be contacted at perspicacity at mary-margaret dot com. |
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Ali Rogers is client manager, executive recruiter for Mary-Margaret Network. In addition to placing candidates, she reviews and critiques artists' work and offers valuable suggestions on presenting the best possible portfolio to potential employers. She has a degree in computer animation and spent seven years working as an environmental artist in the game industry. She may be contacted at ali at mary-margaret dot com. |
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Sheri Rubin is founder and CEO of Design Direct Deliver, a company that strives to improve the customer experience and provides independent contract and consulting services to businesses primarily within the video game industry. She is also a consultant for the Mary-Margaret Network Professional Alliance. She got her start in the industry over a decade ago, has been an active part of the IGDA since 1999 (she recently joined their new “lifetime membership” program), and has appeared on G4TV twice. Though she has more than thirty game credits under her belt, Sheri's proudest moment came from showing her father her name on the Golden Tee machine in a Chicago pizzeria. |
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Daniel Sadowski is a composer for film, television and videogames. He is passionate about creating emotional, powerful, and appropriate music to enhance the drama of a story. He studied music at Western Washington University, and is an alumnus of the Pacific Northwest Film Program. He has worked with the likes of Hummie Mann (Robin Hood Men In Tights, Year of The Comet) and has received praise from the likes of Angelo Badalamenti (Dark Water, "Twin Peaks", Indigo Prophecy). His latest and current projects include the feature films: “The Long March,” directed by John Hay, “Flinders,” an historical epic film, and “A Boy And His Blob,” a video game based on the classic Nintendo franchise. For more information, please visit www.DanielSadowski.net |
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Mark Terrano is a Design Director at Hidden Path Entertainment (best known for Age of Empires II and the recent Defense Grid: The Awakening on PC and Xbox360). www.hiddenpath.com |
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Amy E. Tucker is a contributing writer who has been successfully published internationally for the Tampa Tribune, Raleigh News Observer, Times Union (Albany, NY) and dozens of other publications for more than a decade. |
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Tina Tyndal is a brand strategist with more than 10 years of experience in marketing and advertising, diagnosing brand challenges and delivering innovative marketing strategies to drive growth of Fortune 100 technology brands. An avid gamer in her spare time, Tyndal plans to merge her passion and professional work in 2009. Currently, she consults with video game companies to create marketing and PR campaigns and is the IGDA Women in Games Newsletter Editor. |
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Mike Worth is a video game composer and the co-founder of Game Music, Inc., a company that works with game producers who want to tell effective stories, and audio directors who want emotional, thematic music for their games. Game Music, Inc., specializes in creating and delivering evocative orchestral music for games and interactive media. He may be contacted at mike at gamemusicinc dot com. |
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