Speakers

David Edery (Keynote)

David Edery is Manager and Principal of Fuzbi, an independent consulting firm focused on the business and design of digitally-distributed games, and also a research affiliate of the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program (CMS). Prior to this, David was the Worldwide Games Portfolio Manager for Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade service, and the MIT CMS Program’s Associate Director for Special Projects before Microsoft. David is also the co-author of Changing the Game: How Video Games are Transforming the Future of Business – a review of the ways that games are helping companies to connect with customers, to attract, train, and motivate employees, and to boost their productivity. David maintains a business blog called “Game Tycoon” at http://www.edery.org

Simon Carless

Simon is the chairman of the Independent Games Festival and publisher of Game Developer magazine and Gamasutra.com. He has previously worked as a writer/editor for tech site, Slashdot, and as a game designer for companies such as Eidos Interactive and Atari.
http://www.gdmag.com/
http://www.gamasutra.com/

Jamil Moledina

Jamil works in service of the game industry. At Electronic Arts, he is the Outreach Director, Business Development, for EA Partners, connecting the best independent visionary game creators with the industry-leading production and commercial power of EA. Previously, he was the Executive Director of the Game Developers Conference, the world’s largest professionals-only event in the game industry, where he managed the financial and creative direction of this essential learning/inspiring/networking show. Prior to that, he was Editor-in-Chief of Game Developer magazine, the leading B2B publication in the game space.

Jamil is currently serving on the Board of Directors for the charity organization One Big Game and the International Game Developers Association, as well as various game industry advisory boards. He is also a writer in his spare time.
http://www.ea.com

Rob Murray

Robert Murray has 16 years experience in the game development industry. As CEO of Firemint, he has expanded the studio to become a highly awarded company and has overseen the development of numerous titles for international publishers, as well as Firemint’s iPhone originals. Rob was the original designer and developer of the smash hit world-wide #1 iPhone game “Flight Control”, and led the studio’s revolutionary “Real Racing” project, widely hailed as the best racing game on iPhone.
http://www.firemint.com

Shainiel Deo

Shainiel Deo has been CEO of Halfbrick Studios for the last 9 years. More recently Shainiel has been positioning Halfbrick as a leader in the digital distribution space and building Halfbrick as a brand outside of “work for hire” game development.
http://www.halfbrick.com/

Robert Walsh

As CEO and Co-founder, Mr. Walsh has turned Krome Studios into Australia`s largest game developer and leading worldwide independent game development company. He manages a talented staff of more than 330 full service games creators. Under his sound command, Krome has a spotless record of successfully completing – within budget – all of its projects (ten titles, 37 SKUs) including Australia`s best-selling video game franchise and Krome`s flagship series, TY the Tasmanian TigerTM.

Mr. Walsh is a skilled professional whose vision and prowess has resulted in numerous accomplishments – both professionally and personally. His innovative philosophy on how to create and manage a successful organization has produced numerous accolades and awards.

His leadership was recognized when Mr. Walsh was presented the Career Achievement award at the 2003 AGDC (Australian Game Developers Conference). Krome Studios received the 2004 Queensland Export Award for Arts and Entertainment which was an impressive feat since this was the third time in four years.

He has strategically forged solid relations and negotiated major deals with several international video game publishers such as Electronic Arts, Konami, Ubisoft, Disney Interactive, Mattel, Vivendi and THQ. In 2004, he also secured a partnership with leading animation company DPS Film Roman (”The Simpsons” and “King of the Hill”) to create television and DVD productions featuring the characters from the top-selling TY series.
http://www.kromestudios.com/

Kursten Leins

As Strategic Marketing Manager at Ericsson Australia, Kursten Leins is responsible for supporting marketing of Ericsson’s core mobile and multimedia solutions, including including Mobile Broadband (HSPA, LTE), multimedia enablers such as IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), and a broad range of multimedia solutions, including IPTV and Mobile TV. Kursten works closely with operators and new media customers to identify new Mobile Broadband and multimedia business opportunities.

Kursten has previously held positions within the Ericsson Professional Services organisation as a consultant and project manager, gaining broad experience with a diverse range of projects and products in Australia and abroad, including wireline, wireless and service layer networks and solutions. Kursten holds an MBA from RMIT University, Bachelor of Electronic Engineering and Bachelor of Computer Science from La Trobe University, Melbourne.
http://www.ericsson.com/