schedule of events

Brett Klisch

Creative Factor co-founder and creative director at Peru Meridian Studios

Brett Klisch is a 20-year veteran of the toy industry as owner and creative director of Peru Meridian Studios. Mr. Klisch's studio has designed, developed, and lead the manufacturing for toys that range from the biggest to the smallest companies, simple roto cast vinyl parts to complex motorized and electronic equipment.

With an original background in classical art and the performing arts, Mr. Klisch brings a showman's flair and a designer’s discipline to the many genres he has worked in. Whether fine art museum or circus, its all the same level of discipline and intensity for each and every project.

Robin Raskin

founder, Living in Digital Times

Robin Raskin is the founder of Living in Digital Times (LIDT), a team of technophiles who bring together top experts and the latest innovations to look at the intersection of lifestyle and technology. LIDT produces a number of notable conferences and expos at CES® and at conferences and events worldwide. The company’s trademark events include Last Gadget Standing, Digital Health Summit, HighTech Retail Summit, FashionWare, Fitness Tech Summit, Kids@Play Summit, The Digital Money Forum and others.

In a previous lifetime, Robin honed her tech chops at a variety of technology publications. She was a columnist for USA Today online, editor of PC Magazine, founding editor of FamilyPC magazine and was one of the founding contributors of Yahoo! Tech.  Author of six books, magazine publisher, blogger, TV and radio personality, Robin has been a thought-leader at the forefront of an ever-changing topic: what it means to be digital. Robin also serves on the board of the CTA Foundation and on the ACM Practitioners Board.

She lives in NYC and the Hudson Valley, with her husband, her three drop-in-now-and-then children, and closets full of obsolete technology.

Billy Langsworthy

co-founder, Mojo Nation

Billy Langsworthy is the co-founder of Mojo Nation, a body for the toy and game design community. The three pillars of Mojo Nation are to celebrate the work done by creators in this space, to usher new design talent into the industry and to help ensure the best ideas don’t just stay ideas. Mojo Nation runs the Play Creators Festival, a three day event held in London encompassing design conferences, pitching days, networking nights and a day designed to encourage product design students to take up careers in toy and game design. Away from the Festival, Mojo Nation has also launched the tech-toy focused Play Innovation Summit, as well as Toy Design Challenges for brands including Rubik’s, Mr Men/Little Miss and The Gruffalo, while also covering the toy and game design space online at Mojo-Nation.com. Prior to launching Mojo Nation, Langsworthy was the editor of UK toy and licensing trade titles ToyNews and Licensing.biz.

Matt Nuccio

owner, Design Edge

Matt Nuccio is the owner of Design Edge, a toy and game development, marketing, manufacturing, inventing and consulting agency. They are headquartered in New York with two satellite offices in China. For over 30 years, Design Edge has been a leading development agency in the toys and games industry. For 4 years Matt co-chaired The Toy Association's associate panel, representing all designers and inventors in the toy industry. Currently, Matt sits on the board of directors of the United Inventors Association of America (UIA) and on the Chicago Toy and Game Fair (ChiTAG) advisory board. Matt also writes a column in Toy Family Entertainment magazine focusing on the toy industry and often lectures at the American International Toy Fair, ASTRA, Chicago Toy & Game Fair, and Hong Kong Toy Fair.

Dr. Azadeh Jamalian

Head of Education, The GIANT Room

Dr. Azadeh Jamalian is a former TED resident, an entrepreneur and cognitive science PhD, building invention hubs and communities for students 5 to 12 years old. Her organization, The GIANT room is a place for children to ideate, come up with challenges they care to solve, roll up their sleeves, get messy, and bring their ideas into reality. GIANT Children have the full support to take their ideas into the world by forming their own ventures, giving talks, publishing books, hosting podcasts, or even patenting their inventions! Prior to founding The GIANT Room, Dr Jamalian was the Head of Education Strategy at littleBits, and co-founded Tiggly, an early-education company that pioneered the integration of physical play with digital applications.

Ed Desmond

Executive vice president, external affairs, The Toy Association

Ed Desmond joined the Toy Association in October 2008 to serve in the newly created position of Executive Vice President, External Affairs. During his tenure, Mr. Desmond has built a strong and effective advocacy program that touches directly on the key domestic and international issues impacting the toy industry: safety; environmental sustainability; intellectual property protection; global trade – including export restrictions; children’s online privacy protection, and more.

Headquartered in the Association’s Washington, DC, office, Mr. Desmond oversees the Toy Association’s product safety and standards initiatives, technical affairs, state, federal and international legislative and regulatory outreach, and related advocacy and communications programs.

Prior to joining the Toy Association, Mr. Desmond served as Senior Vice President, Government Affairs with the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). Previously, he served as Director of Government Affairs for several large multi-national corporations. He began his career as legislative counsel for a U.S. Congressman.

Michael Herbst

Educator

“I believe in creating new ways to inspire students...grabbing their attention and making subjects I am presenting more relatable to their everyday lives.”

Toys can be played with for years or minutes before being discarded based upon their level of involvement and imagination. Toys that are multidimensional and have the ability to morph will have the true interest of the user for a longer duration of time. Mike is a High School Science and STEM teacher who has taught Physics, Chemistry, Earth, and Space Sciences and other elective courses to students in grades 6–12. He’s a science program supervisor and has created new augmented reality tools for teaching geology. A father of teens, he enjoys adventurous family road trips in the RV. Mike incorporates his STEM knowledge with boundless creativity as a builder, a maker, a baker, and a brewer.

Ben Kaufman

Camp

Ben is the Founder and CEO of CAMP, a national retail chain of Family Experience Stores that blend play and product. Prior to founding CAMP, Ben was the Chief Marketing Officer at BuzzFeed where he oversaw the company’s growing commerce division and marketing team. Ben also founded Apple accessory company mophie and social invention platform Quirky. Throughout his career, Ben has been obsessed with speeding up design, building things, and storytelling. Ben is currently obsessed with creating immersive retail experiences for families like his.

Brian Bonnett

The Bonkers Toy Company

Graduating from San Diego State University, Brian’s career in the toy industry began when he worked as a clerk at Play Co Toys, a 45 location toy store chain. He quickly worked his way up to Supervisor, Buyer, VP, Executive VP, and ultimately President of the internet division. Brian created their web strategy and helped the company go public with a $38 million raise.

Known in the industry as one of the premier experts in toy sales, Brian became VP of X-Concepts, the creators of the huge hit, Tech Deck Fingerboards. He formed their international division, getting products placed in major international markets around the world.

In 2004, Brian became VP of Jasman Toys where he ran the US division of the company. Under his leadership, the company began selling to the largest retailers in the US and worldwide. In 3 short years, sales and profits grew over 500%.

Most recently, Brian was the President of Goldie International, the company that sold Super Mario Bros. products to retailers in North America. Prior to Brian joining Goldie, sales were limited to just one distributor with modest results. In only 2 years, sales quadrupled and products were placed in over 40,000 retail locations in the US.

Brian has the track record, expertise, systems, and people to build hugely successful businesses and sell to the largest retailers in the US and worldwide.

Sheila A. Millar

Partner, Keller and Heckman LLP

Sheila A. Millar represents businesses and trade associations on a variety of public policy and regulatory issues, including privacy, data security, cybersecurity and advertising matters, in addition to product safety issues. She has been involved in a variety of audit and compliance projects, including, among other issues, privacy and data security audits, and is experienced in providing crisis management legal support on an array of issues to a variety of national and international companies and associations. She serves as advertising and privacy counsel for The Toy Association.

Kate O'Loughlin

Super Awesome

As COO of North America, Kate leads SuperAwesome’s regional growth strategy and execution as well as the global customer success across the company’s kidtech products. Previously, Kate was employee number three at Tapad (acquired by Telenor, $360M) and lead the company’s advertising business as SVP and General Manager. Before Tapad, Kate was Product Director at MediaMath and a Lockheed Martin Senior Systems Engineer. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia and a Masters of Science in eBusiness Technology from Carnegie Mellon University.

Monica Dreger

Vice President of Global Consumer Insights
Mattel, Inc.

A kid and cultural trend evangelist, Monica is a data storyteller with extensive experience in transformational markets. Monica is an accomplished researcher, strategist, and innovation leader, constantly seeking hidden trends and treasures with a special focus on youth culture. Her foresights work has helped brands come back from obscurity by tapping into the cultural zeitgeist to quickly innovate and deliver the experiences that consumers crave.

Monica is a multi-lingual Insights senior executive and entrepreneur with over fifteen years of consumer insights, brand strategy, innovation and planning experience in both local and global roles in the US and overseas markets.

She has worked in consumer insights on the corporate side for companies including Unilever, Liz Claiborne/Juicy Couture, Gymboree, and Nickelodeon trying to bring the consumer to life; as well as starting and successfully selling her own startup: CultureBaby. Currently she works at Mattel overseeing Global Consumer Insights to make sure that all kids are being continually heard and shaping the innovation pipeline.

She recently moved with her family from New York to Los Angeles and is very much enjoying the weather and beach (and not the traffic).

Nathan Baynard

Head of Global Brand Marketing, Barbie & Dolls Category
Mattel, Inc.

Nathan Baynard, Head of Brand Marketing – Barbie & Dolls Category, Mattel, leads brand strategy and marketing for the billion dollar brand Barbie as well as the many other brands in Mattel’s Dolls Portfolio. In his 8 years at Mattel, he has led the brand and franchise marketing efforts to evolve the Barbie brand to one focused on inspiration, empowerment, and inclusivity. This has included the launch of the Barbie You Can Be Anything Brand Campaign, launching the first ever broadcast-quality series

for the brand on Netflix, Dreamhouse Adventures, and building the brand’s digital presence to being the #1 Girls’ Brand on YouTube and in social conversation through unique and digitally native content, like Barbie’s Vlog Series.

In 2018, he led efforts to launch the company’s first ever social mission, The Barbie Dream Gap Project, dedicated to raising awareness and combatting the Dream Gap phenomena that shows that as early as age 6, girls start showing a decline in confidence in their own gender’s abilities relative to boys. In his time working on Barbie, the brand has been recognized with multiple marketing and advertising awards, including Adweek’s Brand Genius, the Clios’ Brand Icon award, and most recently one of Ad Age’s Marketers of the Year for 2019 in recognition of a legacy making 60th anniversary year for the brand inclusive of pop-up experiences around the world, global Role Models programs celebrating women of note, and a host of activations across fashion, content, and pop culture. In his recent work also overseeing the rest of the Mattel Dolls Portfolio, he led the brand marketing efforts to launch Creatable World, the first gender-inclusive doll line in the market, named by Time as one of the best inventions of 2019.

A marketer always focused on developing and presenting compelling storytelling, prior to Mattel Nathan had a successful career in producing live theater, both at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, and at New York Stage and Film where he developed new plays and musicals by renowned artists such as Green Day (American Idiot), Duncan Sheik & Steven Sater (Spring Awakening) and John Patrick Shanley (Doubt, Moonstruck). He holds undergraduate degrees in Drama and Psychology from Stanford University and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Carlos Mendoza

Carlos Mendoza III is a seasoned conceptual illustrator with over 14 years in concept design, illustration and team management within the toy industry. His passion for drawing fantasy art and characters has kept him up with design trends and pop culture. This has involved leading design and development teams across a broad spectrum of brands such as Star Wars, Disney, Marvel and most recently Nickelodeon’s #1 brand Spongebob SquarePants.

Fred Ellman

bio coming soon

Rob Smith

Phluid Project

Rob Smith, the CEO and Founder of The Phluid Project, has created a space, combining his profession with his passion.

After graduating from Michigan State University, Rob began a long retail career, spanning over 30 years, orchestrating multi-billion dollar businesses through merchandising, e-commerce, marketing, product development, and supply chain management.

He worked his way through Macy’s for over two decades, working within four divisions and finishing with his final position as GMM/EVP Macy’s Corporate in product merchandising.

Gaining new experiences, Rob became GMM/EVP at Victoria’s Secret direct. He was the Children’s Global Chief Product Officer for Nike, Levi’s Jordan, Hurley, and Converse with Haddad Brands.

Rob mentors numerous fashion brands and serves on the Board of Directors for Steve Madden Ltd., leading the newly created CSR committee. He’s the former Board Chair for The Hetrick-Martin Institute, which empowers, educates, and advocates on behalf of LGBTQA+ youth around the world.

Today, Rob leads and manages The Phluid Project, a leader in the Gender-Free fashion movement. Phluid, joining a global movement of freedom of authenticity and self-expression, leads with values, a powerful community, and a fearlessness to challenge the status quo. Phluid thoughtfully expands into new spaces where they can offer insight, education, and impact.

Rob lives in NYC, NY with his husband, Rod Grozier, and his dog, Jackson.

Photo Credit: Alberto Vasari

Ken Seiter

executive vice president, marketing communications, The Toy Association, Inc.

Kenny Kiernan

Kim Culmone

Senior Vice President, Design Barbie and Fashion Dolls
Mattel, Inc.

Kim serves as Senior Vice President and Global Head of Design for Barbie and Fashion Dolls at Mattel Inc. She has held this position since February 2019. Kim and her award-winning team of product and graphic designers are committed to keeping the brands they steward innovative and reflective of the world kid’s see around them. Kim is entrusted with the creative direction of Mattel’s flagship brand Barbie – a category leader in innovation and a source of inspiration to children around the world for 60 years.

Prior to her current expanded role, Kim was Vice President of Design for Barbie. From 2013-2019 she was responsible for all product and packaging for the brand. During that time, she helped launch the popular @BarbieStyle Instagram channel that now has over 2 million followers and unprecedented social media engagement within the toy industry. Kim also served as Vice President, Consumer Products Design from 2010 - 2013, setting the creative vision for style guide development and licensed product design for Mattel’s global girls’ brands, including Barbie, Monster High and Polly Pocket. In this role she led Mattel’s licensing design teams around the world and developed product in 45 categories in partnership with licensees in over 150 countries.

Kim started her career at Mattel in 1999 as a designer for Barbie. Throughout her 20-year tenure at the company, Kim has maintained a creative process that emphasizes purpose-driven, human-centric design. As featured in the Hulu documentary Tiny Shoulders: Rethinking Barbie, in 2015 she led the design of the most ethnically diverse doll line in the brand’s history. That line included the introduction of three new doll body types - curvy, tall and petite. This bold product reinvention generated 5 billion media impressions, led to a TIME cover, was named one of the “Top 25 Inventions of 2016” by the magazine and received the Barbie brand’s first-ever “Doll of the Year Award”, a coveted honor from the Toy Industry Association. Today Barbie is the most diverse and inclusive doll line on the market.

Kim resides in West Hollywood, California, and is originally from New Orleans, Louisiana. She holds design degrees from Louisiana State University and Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles. Prior to joining Mattel, she co-founded and was creative director of the Los Angeles-based textile art studio, The Design Garage Inc. She is passionate about the advancement of women and girls, supports the arts and LGBTQ+ organizations in her community and serves on the board of directors for the Wright Institute Los Angeles, a mental health non-profit organization and clinic, Chickenshed NYC, a non-profit inclusive children’s theater company. She is a member of the D&AD Impact Council which recognizes products and creative ideas that are driving positive change and The Toy Association’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

Shane Hartley

Art Director at Ravensburger North America, Inc.

Shane Hartley shapes the creative vision for products and brands at Ravensburger North America, including Wonder Forge, Brio and ThinkFun. Liaising with both designers and illustrators, Hartley plays a key role in the creation and development and new and existing products across both licensed ranges and original concepts.

Ted Curtin

Chief Innovation Officer, ProdigyWorks

Ted Curtain is Chief Innovation Officer at ProdigyWorks, a creative ideation and innovation lab that grew out of a partnership with Mensa 13 years ago. ProdigyWorks’ unique approach to breakthrough innovation comes from their exclusive global network of high-IQ thinkers and creative geniuses. From this robust Mensa-based network, ProdigyWorks combines the perfect mix of diverse thinkers to successfully tackle innovation, new product development, brand extension, and product naming for some of the world’s biggest companies and best-loved brands, including Coca-Cola, HP, Nestle, Chili’s, Chase, Pfizer, Kraft, Chik-fil-A, P&G, New Balance, Heineken, and more. You’ll benefit from Ted’s passion for accelerating innovation and moving companies ahead of competitors by tapping into high-level cognitive and cultural diversity. Ted’s ability to address real-world examples of disruptive innovation success across a variety of industries makes him extremely relevant in today’s competitive market.

Brett Klisch

Creative Factor co-founder and creative director at Peru Meridian Studios

Brett Klisch is a 20-year veteran of the toy industry as owner and creative director of Peru Meridian Studios. Mr. Klisch's studio has designed, developed, and lead the manufacturing for toys that range from the biggest to the smallest companies, simple roto cast vinyl parts to complex motorized and electronic equipment.

With an original background in classical art and the performing arts, Mr. Klisch brings a showman's flair and a designer’s discipline to the many genres he has worked in. Whether fine art museum or circus, its all the same level of discipline and intensity for each and every project.

Robin Raskin

founder, Living in Digital Times

Robin Raskin is the founder of Living in Digital Times (LIDT), a team of technophiles who bring together top experts and the latest innovations to look at the intersection of lifestyle and technology. LIDT produces a number of notable conferences and expos at CES® and at conferences and events worldwide. The company’s trademark events include Last Gadget Standing, Digital Health Summit, HighTech Retail Summit, FashionWare, Fitness Tech Summit, Kids@Play Summit, The Digital Money Forum and others.

In a previous lifetime, Robin honed her tech chops at a variety of technology publications. She was a columnist for USA Today online, editor of PC Magazine, founding editor of FamilyPC magazine and was one of the founding contributors of Yahoo! Tech.  Author of six books, magazine publisher, blogger, TV and radio personality, Robin has been a thought-leader at the forefront of an ever-changing topic: what it means to be digital. Robin also serves on the board of the CTA Foundation and on the ACM Practitioners Board.

She lives in NYC and the Hudson Valley, with her husband, her three drop-in-now-and-then children, and closets full of obsolete technology.

Billy Langsworthy

co-founder, Mojo Nation

Billy Langsworthy is the co-founder of Mojo Nation, a body for the toy and game design community. The three pillars of Mojo Nation are to celebrate the work done by creators in this space, to usher new design talent into the industry and to help ensure the best ideas don’t just stay ideas. Mojo Nation runs the Play Creators Festival, a three day event held in London encompassing design conferences, pitching days, networking nights and a day designed to encourage product design students to take up careers in toy and game design. Away from the Festival, Mojo Nation has also launched the tech-toy focused Play Innovation Summit, as well as Toy Design Challenges for brands including Rubik’s, Mr Men/Little Miss and The Gruffalo, while also covering the toy and game design space online at Mojo-Nation.com. Prior to launching Mojo Nation, Langsworthy was the editor of UK toy and licensing trade titles ToyNews and Licensing.biz.

Matt Nuccio

owner, Design Edge

Matt Nuccio is the owner of Design Edge, a toy and game development, marketing, manufacturing, inventing and consulting agency. They are headquartered in New York with two satellite offices in China. For over 30 years, Design Edge has been a leading development agency in the toys and games industry. For 4 years Matt co-chaired The Toy Association's associate panel, representing all designers and inventors in the toy industry. Currently, Matt sits on the board of directors of the United Inventors Association of America (UIA) and on the Chicago Toy and Game Fair (ChiTAG) advisory board. Matt also writes a column in Toy Family Entertainment magazine focusing on the toy industry and often lectures at the American International Toy Fair, ASTRA, Chicago Toy & Game Fair, and Hong Kong Toy Fair.

Richard Barry

President & CEO of Tru Kids Brands

Richard Barry is a recognized global retail leader with extensive experience in the entertainment, licensing, toy and baby industries.

As the President & CEO of Tru Kids Brands, Richard is responsible for the management, development, and growth of the global brands Toys“R”Us®, Babies“R”Us®, Geoffrey the Giraffe®, and over 20 other consumer brands.

Richard currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Toy Association, the board of the Toy Foundation and has held board positions for the Entertainment Merchants Association and LIMA.

Shahram Baradaran

Green Toys Inc

Shahram Baradaran is the sr. quality and compliance program manager at Green Toys Inc., a leading manufacturer of children's toys made from 100 percent recycled plastic. Before joining Green Toys Inc. in 2013, Shahram spent six years working as a quality engineer and project manager at a plastic injection molding company in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Charles Berzon

Managing Director of ProSource Global Ltd.

Charles Berzon is Managing Director of ProSource Global Ltd., a Hong Kong-based consumer goods, development, sourcing, and logistics supplier for clients in the US and around the world. He has a B.S. in Marketing from San Diego State University and an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management and lived in Hong Kong for more than 20 years.

Drawing from his manufacturing expertise, he works one-on-one with his clients, helping them in a wide range of product categories such as Toys, Electronics, House wares, Sporting Goods, Pet Toys and many other.

Pete Cartlidge

Commercial Director at Fuse London

Pete Cartlidge is Commercial Director at Fuse London. He creates “sticky stuff” for next-gen kids and big kids.

Angie Cella

Angie is a single mom of four beautiful children. The idea for her product, Blinger, came to her in a dream. She spent several years trying to make her product a reality. After numerous different engineering firms, designs, and countless prototypes, she finally had a working prototype. Then, with the support of her children, she sold their home and used the proceeds to build the tool in China to manufacture it. She presented her product to the toy industry at WIT Empowerment Day and Toy Fair Dallas in October 2018. There she partnered with Wicked Cool Toys, and together they launched Blinger worldwide in 2019: A dream come true for Angie and her family. Angie is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. She and her children currently live in Avondale, Pennsylvania.

Carolyn Shafer

Director of the Center for Sustainable Design Strategies at Pratt Institute

Carolyn is the Director of the Center for Sustainable Design Strategies at Pratt Institute. Since 2009, she has worked to develop the Center for Sustainable Design Strategies (CSDS) at Pratt. She has acted as project manager for a number of CSDS Industry and Research projects, coordinates the annual Sustainability Crash Course, and runs the CSDS internship Program. Carolyn also teaches in the Industrial Design department and the Sustainable Environmental Systems Program at Pratt.

Mark Remmert

Mark Remmert is the founding CEO of Green Dot Bioplastics Inc. Green Dot is a start up manufacturer of bioplastic resins. Mark was previously CEO of Styron Corporation, a $5 billion wholly owned subsidiary of Dow Chemical based in Zurich Switzerland. Prior to that, Mark served as President and Chairman of LG-Dow, based in Seoul, South Korea. Mark was global business director for the $2 billion Engineering Plastics Group, and general manager of Dow Fiber Solutions (DFS), based in Switzerland. In his 30-year career with Dow Chemical, Mark assumed a variety of technical, commercial, and business leadership roles in the United States, Europe, and Asia. He served for 10 years on the Board of Directors for Sumitomo Dow Ltd. in Japan, and LG Dow Polycarbonate Ltd., in Korea. He currently serves as Board of Trustees Past-President for Flint Hills Technical College.

Rena Nathanson

CEO of Bananagrams, Inc.

Rena Nathanson, CEO of Bananagrams, Inc., created and designed BANANAGRAMS® along with her parents and her children. She successfully brought the game to the worldwide market, where it is among the top ten best-selling toys and gifts of the last decade. In September 2012, Mumpreneur UK named Rena “Inspirational Business Mum of the Year.” She currently splits her time between London, England and Providence, RI, home of Bananagrams, Inc.

Blake Wright

Journalist

Blake Wright is a journalist from Houston, Texas who has spent most of his 25-plus year professional career covering the energy industry for various publications. In 2003, he and his wife Holly launched an online toy and collectibles store called LittlePlasticMen.com, which closed in late 2006. Less than a decade later, he resurrected the name for a quarterly e-mag covering the commercial and behind-the-scenes aspects of the boys’ toys and action figure market in 2014. He wrote his first book, Toys That Time Forgot Volume 1, in 2017 while exploring the US in an Airstream travel trailer. The positive reception of the book spawned a sequel, Toys That Time Forgot Volume 2, which was released at the end of 2019. Earlier in the year, he was named a 2019 inductee into the Pop Culture Hall Of Fame. Work has already commenced on a third, and possibly final, volume in the “lost toy” series.

Valerie Vacante

founder, collabsco

Valerie Vacante is the Founder of Collabsco, a strategy and innovation firm based in Austin, Texas. In a connected world of entertainment, play, living and learning Valerie has pioneered award winning digital products and experiences across IoT, AR, VR and beyond. In 2018, Valerie launched the first-ever connected play landscape; this year, her latest iteration maps over 260 connected play experiences, emerging technologies and business growth opportunities. Valerie has expanded Collabsco’s innovation efforts across the US, Europe and South America helping companies build their portfolios through collaborations with inventors, startups and global brands. She is also the Co-Founder of TechUp, a curated service that showcases innovative products on a global stage as featured at WIRED Live, WIRED Next Generation, CES and SXSW. In between driving what’s next in technology, culture and design, Valerie has recently been named one of the “Top 25 Women in Technology” by PCR, she serves on the SXSW Innovation Advisory Board, as a CES KAPi Awards Judge, a Global Expert to MassChallenge, an international speaker and technology writer. You can find her almost anywhere creators are designing the future.  

Deej Johnson

Deej Johnson is a creative consultant and speaker with numerous high-profile companies among his clients. They include Bananagrams, Hasbro, Tactic Games, Mojo-Nation, Harper Collins, and Disney Store. His most recent book, The Snakes & Ladders of Creative Thinking, is available now.

Kenny Kiernan

Mitchel Wu

creative toy photographer

Brett Klisch

Creative Factor co-founder and creative director at Peru Meridian Studios

Brett Klisch is a 20-year veteran of the toy industry as owner and creative director of Peru Meridian Studios. Mr. Klisch's studio has designed, developed, and lead the manufacturing for toys that range from the biggest to the smallest companies, simple roto cast vinyl parts to complex motorized and electronic equipment.

With an original background in classical art and the performing arts, Mr. Klisch brings a showman's flair and a designer’s discipline to the many genres he has worked in. Whether fine art museum or circus, its all the same level of discipline and intensity for each and every project.

Robin Raskin

founder, Living in Digital Times

Robin Raskin is the founder of Living in Digital Times (LIDT), a team of technophiles who bring together top experts and the latest innovations to look at the intersection of lifestyle and technology. LIDT produces a number of notable conferences and expos at CES® and at conferences and events worldwide. The company’s trademark events include Last Gadget Standing, Digital Health Summit, HighTech Retail Summit, FashionWare, Fitness Tech Summit, Kids@Play Summit, The Digital Money Forum and others.

In a previous lifetime, Robin honed her tech chops at a variety of technology publications. She was a columnist for USA Today online, editor of PC Magazine, founding editor of FamilyPC magazine and was one of the founding contributors of Yahoo! Tech.  Author of six books, magazine publisher, blogger, TV and radio personality, Robin has been a thought-leader at the forefront of an ever-changing topic: what it means to be digital. Robin also serves on the board of the CTA Foundation and on the ACM Practitioners Board.

She lives in NYC and the Hudson Valley, with her husband, her three drop-in-now-and-then children, and closets full of obsolete technology.

Billy Langsworthy

co-founder, Mojo Nation

Billy Langsworthy is the co-founder of Mojo Nation, a body for the toy and game design community. The three pillars of Mojo Nation are to celebrate the work done by creators in this space, to usher new design talent into the industry and to help ensure the best ideas don’t just stay ideas. Mojo Nation runs the Play Creators Festival, a three day event held in London encompassing design conferences, pitching days, networking nights and a day designed to encourage product design students to take up careers in toy and game design. Away from the Festival, Mojo Nation has also launched the tech-toy focused Play Innovation Summit, as well as Toy Design Challenges for brands including Rubik’s, Mr Men/Little Miss and The Gruffalo, while also covering the toy and game design space online at Mojo-Nation.com. Prior to launching Mojo Nation, Langsworthy was the editor of UK toy and licensing trade titles ToyNews and Licensing.biz.

Matt Nuccio

owner, Design Edge

Matt Nuccio is the owner of Design Edge, a toy and game development, marketing, manufacturing, inventing and consulting agency. They are headquartered in New York with two satellite offices in China. For over 30 years, Design Edge has been a leading development agency in the toys and games industry. For 4 years Matt co-chaired The Toy Association's associate panel, representing all designers and inventors in the toy industry. Currently, Matt sits on the board of directors of the United Inventors Association of America (UIA) and on the Chicago Toy and Game Fair (ChiTAG) advisory board. Matt also writes a column in Toy Family Entertainment magazine focusing on the toy industry and often lectures at the American International Toy Fair, ASTRA, Chicago Toy & Game Fair, and Hong Kong Toy Fair.

Archit Bhargava

Head of Marketing for Pokémon GO and Ingress at Niantic, Inc.

Archit is head of marketing for Pokémon GO and Ingress at Niantic, Inc.

Justin Evans

EpicToyChannel

EpicToyChannel features Justin and Cassi and their children Johnny, Zoey and Milo. EpicToyChannel is family focused and celebrates imaginative play, creativity, teamwork and positivity. On YouTube alone their channel has over 1.3 Million subscribers and nearly 1 billion views. Epic is also syndicated on a variety of OTT platforms including Roku and AppleTV. Over the past few years the Epic family has enjoyed working with top global brands like Spin Master, Mattel, Hasbro, Netflix, Wal-Mart, DreamWorks and many others to successfully launch physical products and digital goods.

Yoni Bloch

eko

Yoni Bloch is the co-founder and CEO of eko, a pioneering interactive storytelling company that lets viewers shape stories as they unfold. Eko was founded in 2011. Yoni and his co-founders invented the technology in order to create a groundbreaking music video for their band which allowed fans to explore multiple storylines within the video. In partnership with Walmart, and backed by Sequoia Capital, MGM, Intel, and Sony, eko has launched a number of interactive experiences, music videos, and ongoing programs. Yoni is an accomplished musician and he and his wife and daughters live in NYC.

Janey Whiteside

Walmart

Janey Whiteside is Walmart’s executive vice president and first chief customer officer. She is responsible for looking after Walmart’s brand and thinking through the customer journey for both Walmart stores and e-commerce. Janey joined Walmart in 2018 after spending more than 20 years at American Express in leadership roles ranging from international pricing, relationship management and marketing, to customer engagement and global products, benefits and services. While at AmEx, she prioritized expanding AmEx products into new areas, connecting with younger customers and creating experiences and rewards for card members. In addition to her duties at Walmart, Janey serves on the board of directors of the Greater New York Region of the American Red Cross. Janey holds an undergraduate degree in economics from Cardiff University in Wales.

Meghan Athavale

Lumo Interactive Inc.

Meg is the co-founder and CEO of LUMOplay, an app market platform for in-store experiential with over 20,000 activations worldwide. Meg's mission in life is to empower agencies and artists to create, deploy, and manage interactive digital experiences at scale.

Her career as a linear animation artist and compositor began in the mid-90s, and has led to a number of leaps into emerging technology over the years, including indie game development, live motion capture, and augmented reality.

Meg is the co-author of eight pending and granted patents for mobile projection, AR, and interactivity. She frequently consults on screenless augmented reality experiences in verticals such as retail, education, and events.

Despite being a CEO with a son in university, Meg turns into a 7 year old whenever she’s in a toy store. Her favorite toys are craft kits and robots.

Caitlin Gutekunst

SR. DIRECTOR OF MARKETING & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, CREATIVITY INC.

Caitlin Gutekunst is a versatile business development executive who excels at identifying market trends and bringing new technology experiences to life across retail and digital marketplaces. A brand marketer at heart, Caitlin has 10+ years of experience building global strategic partnerships, finding new audiences, and driving revenue for top consumer brands like LeapFrog, Disney, Mattel, Viacom, and more. Currently, Caitlin is the Senior Director of Marketing & Business Development at Creativity, Inc, an award-winning product design and content development studio that has produced over 7,000 product experiences, including immersive voice experiences on Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant for brands like Netflix's Stranger Things, The Wiggles, Disney Music Group, ABC's American Idol, Coachella festival, and more. When Caitlin is not traveling the country, you can usually find her sailing in San Francisco Bay.

The McCann Family

YouTube channels Tic Tac Toy and Tic Tac Toy Family

Jason (father), Lucy (mother), Addy (9), and Maya (7) comprise the family behind the YouTube channels Tic Tac Toy and Tic Tac Toy Family. In the last 4 years, they've grown their combined channels to over 4.5 million subscribers with over 2 billion total views. Over the last year, they have expanded their distribution across Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon's steaming platforms and have also launched their own toy line in the U.S. and U.K.

Zai Ortiz

Zai Ortiz is the visionary entrepreneur-turned-game-maker who drives immersive entertainment experiences that blur the lines of gaming, film, and play in the physical and digital world. Zai is the Co-Founder and President of Virsix Games, a collective of forward-thinking storytellers, innovators, designers and engineers uncovering the ways technological advancements will shape and redefine entertainment experiences. In collaboration with Nolan Bushnell, the Founder of Atari and Godfather of Video Games, Zai led the design and development of St. Noire, the world’s first murder mystery board game powered by Amazon Alexa - awarded the CES 2020 Best of Innovation Award along with 2020 Kapi Award for Best Use of Emerging Technologies. Zai’s most recognizable work is his creation of the J.A.R.V.I.S. system holograms in Marvel’s Iron Man. His portfolio includes stunning visuals for films such as TRON: Legacy, Mission: Impossible, Thor, The Twilight Saga, and Sherlock Holmes. Zai’s work has exhilarated billions of viewers and inspired a generation of artists.

Ori Inbar

Ori is a world-leading expert in the Augmented Reality industry and has devoted the past decade to fostering the AR ecosystem as an entrepreneur, ecosystem builder, advisor and investor. He is the Founder and Managing Partner for Super Ventures and CEO of AugmentedReality.Org, the non profit that produces AWE - the top industry conference for AR since 2010. In this role he leads worldwide operations for Augmented World Expo (AWE), the largest global conference and events for AR and VR with over 10,000 attendees worldwide. In 2009, Ori was the Co-founder and CEO of Ogmento (now Flyby Media - acquired by Apple to be the foundation for ARKit). Previously, as Senior Vice President at SAP, Ori grew the SAP Netweaver platform from a concept to a billion dollar business. He lead the development and launch of dozens of products and business applications including the world’s leading enterprise portal, which in 2001 was acquired by SAP for $400 Million.

Melissa Hunter

Mommy’s World on YouTube

Melissa Hunter is the mom in Mommy’s World on YouTube and the founder of Family Video Network. When her daughter Grace was 8 years old, she asked to start a YouTube channel similar to the ones that they watched together before bed. Armed with a webcam, they started to review dolls and open blind bags and film their doll hunting excursions. Known for their complete lack of professionalism, they amassed a fanbase of 750,000 subscribers. For five years they shared their love of dolls and toys with families until they chose to retire and live a private life. Still enjoying the process of creating and communicating with viewers, Melissa carried on and re-branded to Mommy’s World. The world of families who create video content for other families to enjoy has become her passion and with Family Video Network she helps those creators navigate this new and often confusing industry.

Tom Emrich

Sometimes called the “man from the future”, Tom is recognized as one of the world’s leading thought leaders in augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), & wearable technology and has over 10 years of experience working with these technologies.

Tom’s thoughts are often sought after by media giants such as CNN, BBC, Forbes and The NY Times, and conferences such as TEDx, Slush, CES & SXSW.

Currently, Tom leverages his unique mix of experience and relationships gained as a venture capitalist, product manager, journalist, consultant, evangelist, and community builder to help organizations prepare for the next wave of computing as VP of Product at 8th Wall.

Ariella Lehrer

Ariella Lehrer is a nationally recognized augmented reality and digital gaming expert who has founded and led three interactive companies over the past 30 years. She has produced more than 25 licensed games with Crayola, Universal Kids, NBC Universal and others. Her Emergency Room simulation series of games sold more than one million units at retail. In the past few years, Ariella has focused on AR and has executive produced games, smart toys and educational apps that focus on the interplay between the physical environment and digital apps. Ariella has a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology and writes about children and technology on her blog at Ariellalehrer.com.

Nis Bojin

Head of design for Biba

Nis is the head of design for Biba: a company making mobile games to help parents get their kids off couches and back outside on the playground. With a PhD in Interaction Design, Nis has spent 15+ years focusing on designing for and with kids and has worked with a number of children's and youth brands including Sony's Hotel Transylvania, ReBoot, PBS Kids, and others. Biba games were recently named one of Time Magazine's Best Inventions of 2019.

Nick Metzler

As the Incubation and New Business Specialist for the Games Team at Spin Master, Nick scours the globe to find innovative products and companies that are integrating new technologies into board games. Nick has been inventing games since he was 4 and was named the Rising Star Innovator of the Year for the Toy Industry in 2018. His game ‘Good Question!’ is a fresh way to play with a smart speaker—simply draw a card and figure out how to prompt the smart speaker to say the word on the card… without you saying the word at all. Ask any question to the speaker, no downloads or special skills required!

Shuli Gilutz, Ph.D.

UX research, Children's Technology

Shuli Gilutz, Ph.D. specializes in UX research, assessment, and design of interactive products for children. She works in industry and academia, teaching, advising, and conducting research, and as a strategic consultant for the development and design of children's digital experiences. Dr. Gilutz is a global speaker about kids and digital media, age-appropriate UX, usability, play, and learning. She teaches at Tel-Aviv University, Shenkar’s Toy Invention program, and is a board member of the Designing for Children's Rights Association. 

Website * Twitter * LinkedIn

Reyne Rice

GLOBAL TREND HUNTER, TOY TREND EXPERT, CONSULTANT, MEDIA SPOKESPERSON, WRITER

For over 20 years, Reyne Rice has been regarded as the knowledgeable voice of the toy industry, advising on kids and family and youth trends for toys, games, technology and entertainment. A seasoned toy industry professional with over 30 years’ experience in marketing, researching and analyzing the toy industry an  youth market. She has owned her own consultancy, Toy Trends, since 2003.

Reyne has developed products and solutions for the media, consumers, trade associations, retailers, manufacturers, and licensors, providing key insights and analysis for small, mid-tier and Fortune 500 companies. She consults regularly with a wide variety of industry leaders, providing insights and direction on toy industry issues, marketing partnerships/sponsorships, and provides public relations strategies and solutions, and trade show consulting. She is a featured media spokesperson in the USA, Canada and Germany, representing the key driver products that represent each year's trend stories. She serves as a juror on multiple annual Award programs.

She is frequently consulted and quoted in business and consumer publications, including USA Today, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, CNN Money, Financial Times, Fortune, Businessweek, Brandweek, Forbes, TIME and featured on Good Morning America, Fox & Friends, CBS Marketwatch, NBC Nightly News, CBS Early Show, Fox Business.

Reyne is published in domestic and international trade and consumer outlets, in over 60 countries, a contributing editor for the Adventure Publishing Group, for Spirit of Play publications, SpiritOfPlay.com, ReyneRice.com, and published regularly in ITMA (International Toy Trade Magazine Association) publications worldwide.

Brett Klisch

Creative Factor co-founder and creative director at Peru Meridian Studios

Brett Klisch is a 20-year veteran of the toy industry as owner and creative director of Peru Meridian Studios. Mr. Klisch's studio has designed, developed, and lead the manufacturing for toys that range from the biggest to the smallest companies, simple roto cast vinyl parts to complex motorized and electronic equipment.

With an original background in classical art and the performing arts, Mr. Klisch brings a showman's flair and a designer’s discipline to the many genres he has worked in. Whether fine art museum or circus, its all the same level of discipline and intensity for each and every project.

Robin Raskin

founder, Living in Digital Times

Robin Raskin is the founder of Living in Digital Times (LIDT), a team of technophiles who bring together top experts and the latest innovations to look at the intersection of lifestyle and technology. LIDT produces a number of notable conferences and expos at CES® and at conferences and events worldwide. The company’s trademark events include Last Gadget Standing, Digital Health Summit, HighTech Retail Summit, FashionWare, Fitness Tech Summit, Kids@Play Summit, The Digital Money Forum and others.

In a previous lifetime, Robin honed her tech chops at a variety of technology publications. She was a columnist for USA Today online, editor of PC Magazine, founding editor of FamilyPC magazine and was one of the founding contributors of Yahoo! Tech.  Author of six books, magazine publisher, blogger, TV and radio personality, Robin has been a thought-leader at the forefront of an ever-changing topic: what it means to be digital. Robin also serves on the board of the CTA Foundation and on the ACM Practitioners Board.

She lives in NYC and the Hudson Valley, with her husband, her three drop-in-now-and-then children, and closets full of obsolete technology.

Billy Langsworthy

co-founder, Mojo Nation

Billy Langsworthy is the co-founder of Mojo Nation, a body for the toy and game design community. The three pillars of Mojo Nation are to celebrate the work done by creators in this space, to usher new design talent into the industry and to help ensure the best ideas don’t just stay ideas. Mojo Nation runs the Play Creators Festival, a three day event held in London encompassing design conferences, pitching days, networking nights and a day designed to encourage product design students to take up careers in toy and game design. Away from the Festival, Mojo Nation has also launched the tech-toy focused Play Innovation Summit, as well as Toy Design Challenges for brands including Rubik’s, Mr Men/Little Miss and The Gruffalo, while also covering the toy and game design space online at Mojo-Nation.com. Prior to launching Mojo Nation, Langsworthy was the editor of UK toy and licensing trade titles ToyNews and Licensing.biz.

Matt Nuccio

owner, Design Edge

Matt Nuccio is the owner of Design Edge, a toy and game development, marketing, manufacturing, inventing and consulting agency. They are headquartered in New York with two satellite offices in China. For over 30 years, Design Edge has been a leading development agency in the toys and games industry. For 4 years Matt co-chaired The Toy Association's associate panel, representing all designers and inventors in the toy industry. Currently, Matt sits on the board of directors of the United Inventors Association of America (UIA) and on the Chicago Toy and Game Fair (ChiTAG) advisory board. Matt also writes a column in Toy Family Entertainment magazine focusing on the toy industry and often lectures at the American International Toy Fair, ASTRA, Chicago Toy & Game Fair, and Hong Kong Toy Fair.

David Kleeman

Senior Vice President Global Trends, Dubit Ltd.

Strategist, analyst, author, speaker, connector — David Kleeman has led the children’s media industry in developing sustainable, child-friendly practices for more than 30 years. He began this work as president of the American Center for Children and Media and is now Senior Vice President of Global Trends for Dubit, a strategy/research consultancy and digital studio.

When he began this work, “children’s media” meant television. Today, he is fascinated by, and passionate about, kids’ wide range of possibilities for entertainment, engagement, play and learning. David uses research, insights and experience to show that much may change, but children’s developmental path and needs remain constant.

David is advisory board chair to the international children’s TV festival PRIX JEUNESSE, Board Vice President for the National Association for Media Literacy Education, and on the board of the Children’s Media Association and the Advisory Board of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center. He was a Senior Fellow of the Fred Rogers Center.

David travels worldwide seeking best practices in children’s entertainment and learning. He has spoken (and, more important, listened!) on six continents and writes extensively for varied audiences.

Maggie McGuire

Pinna

Maggie McGuire is CEO of Pinna, an audio-first children's media company offering the first and only ad-free, audio on-demand streaming service for kids. Pinna delivers breakthrough, original audio programming curated and created for kids that includes podcasts, music and audiobooks. A seasoned media executive with deep experience in cross platform brand strategy, product & content development and innovation experience, McGuire was Vice President of Scholastic Media and most recently VP, eScholastic, the digital division of Scholastic. Prior to her 15-year tenure with Scholastic, McGuire’s experience in children’s media included positions with Viacom's Nickelodeon, Cablevision and JP Kids. She began her career as a teacher and recruiter for Teach for America and led the team that launched the International Baccalaureate’s Middle Years Programme in North America, an international curriculum designed for students aged 11 to 16, offered in schools worldwide. She holds an MA in Educational Theater from New York University and a BA in English Literature and Philosophy from Boston College.

Martin Horstman

Tink Digital Inc

Martin Horstman is a co-founder of the Doodlematic application, CEO of Tink Digital Inc. Martin started his career in the molecular dynamics research group at Stony Brook University, where he worked on one of the fastest supercomputers in the world developing new algorithms for protein folding applications. Martin moved on to work in the network management division of EMC Smarts where he quickly advanced to the role of Sr. Software Engineer at 23 years old. Martin made key contributions to an advanced software suite focused on network monitoring and fault analysis. Martin decided to jump into the startup world and joined FAST Technologies while pursuing his own video game company, AlgoCrunch Inc. Martin was a contractor for FAST technologies for over 9 years as a tech lead and software architect, where he has worked with a variety of clients building revolutionary life insurance admin systems. Martin’s own company, AlgoCrunch Inc has published several games on the Apple App store for itself and clients.

Martin spent 10 years creating a groundbreaking game engine which powers the DoodleMatic game and gives Tink Digital Inc a competitive edge. Martin developed the technology and the vision behind DoodleMatic, and has spent the last three years building the application to grow it to the product that people love today.

Martin spends his leisure time playing imaginative games and reading to his kids, Kiera and Gabriella. Martin and his wife are avid Ballroom Dancers and enjoy skiing, playing volleyball and exercising at the gym. Martin attributes his successful career to his creative skills that have been bred into him since playing with KNex as a young child. His creativity is his key differentiator, and the awareness of that is the driving factor behind DoodleMatic and the products that Tink Digital produces.

Raul Carvajal

Games for Change

Games for Change is the leading nonprofit that empowers game creators and social innovators to drive real-world impact through games and immersive media. Raul fuses his background in film production and virtual reality development to coordinate the G4C team’s efforts to produce all live events, including the annual Games for Change Festival and Immersive Arcades. In addition, Raul assists in strategic planning for the organization with regard to new and existing partners, particularly under the XR for Change initiative. He is an avid gamer, enjoying tabletop RPGs just as much as indie platformers. Raul also serves as the National President of DKA, a national professional cinema society which prepares university students for a career in the film industry.

Tonda Bunge Sellers

Living in Digital Times

Tonda Bunge Sellers uses her voice to create conversations about the space between kids and family -digital, physical and emotional worlds. She works with innovators and creators to share the realities of living with technology and how it affects our kids both positively, negatively and every which way in between.

She seeks to find technology that does not distract us from our daily lives but goes beyond and blends both worlds in an impactful, valuable and most importantly healthy way. Seeking what she calls “true enhancement” she celebrates digital engagement that promotes personal connection for growth and solves problems.

Having begun her career in the classroom turning to education reform policy and government affairs, she now focuses on connecting designers and developers to businesses and families. Rather than focusing on how families can adapt to technology, she helps others understand how to live with technology in meaningful ways.

She infuses her Texas-size passion and entrepreneurial spirit into the family lifestyle. She was the president of Digital Kids Media and producer of the global industry event Kids@Play and FamilyTech Summit most recently in 2020 with Living in Digital Times at CES, where she provides a global voice for innovation and play.

She serves as a judge to industry events that shine a light on the future generation of kids, tech, and toys: KAPi Awards, Young Innovators to Watch, Toy of The Year Awards. She has served as a juror on ChiTag Young Tech Challenge, Prix Jeunesse International, and as a mentor to entrepreneurs for Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs Accelerator, Powered by Techstars. Over the past few months she has been working in the mobility and IoT space in Houston representing GoKid in the first Houston Texas ion Smart City Accelerator building a network of schools, corporations and the city of Houston with mobility and community first mind set.

She and her husband are raising two digital natives who drive her to stay curious and be a voice in her community and the industry. She also serves as a volunteer for the Houston Live Stock Show and Rodeo, International Committee where she shares her love for Western Heritage and importance of Agriculture Education.

Jerome Dureau

BANDAI NAMCO

With years of experience in the video game space and a passion for developing advancements in user experience & technology through innovation, smart strategy, effective marketing, and entrepreneurship; Jerome now leads projects within the Innovation Department at BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment with the goal of creating tomorrow’s ground-breaking entertainment experiences.

Lisa Hom

Lisa Hom manages the Product Design, Editorial, Graphic Design, and Sourcing teams at KiwiCo, Inc. Over the past seven years, she has led the team to launch 7 new subscription lines - Tinker Crate, Doodle Crate, Koala Crate, Atlas Crate, Eureka Crate, Panda Crate, and Eureka Crate, as well as over 150 products that are sold in the eCommerce store. Every product is designed and kid-tested to inspire kids to become makers - and have a blast while doing it!

Lisa has 16+ years of experience working for fashion, kids and lifestyle brands. She has built teams and developed new product lines for subscriptions such as KiwiCo and Parasol Co. She has managed the P&L for companies such as Banana Republic, Old Navy, and Mervyn’s, and has also developed product lines to be sold in retailers across the country. Lisa obtained her Industrial Engineering and Operations Research degree from the University of California, Berkeley and her MBA from the Haas School of Business.

Diane Fornasier

Singleton Foundation

Diane is a consultant in the Digital Games and Consumer Electronics/Toy industries. She is currently serving as the head of game marketing for The Singleton Foundation, where she is spearheading the creation and launch of the Venture Valley game. Through fun game mechanics and esports competitions (with real-world prizes), players will gain skills in entrepreneurship and financial literacy that will help them in their own lives.

Diane’s vast video game experience includes creating new markets and opportunities and driving revenues for well-known consoles, brands and games including Genesis, Sega Sports, Crash Bandicoot, PS Vita and Spyro. She also has brought many edutainment software, toys and products to market and oversaw product line development for brands such as Leapfrog, Learn Curve/TOMY, and Get Qurious.

Diane has been a product and marketing executive within the digital entertainment industry for over 25 years, working with companies including SONY PlayStation, SEGA of America, LeapFrog, and Universal Studios. She has launched/managed over 100 new mobile, PC, and console products, with numerous brands growing to over $1B in revenues, and achieving 'top franchise' status within their product categories.

Diane graduated from Miami University of Ohio, and is active in mentoring girls and women interested in STEM careers or management positions within technology-oriented businesses.

Asi Burak

Games for Change

Asi Burak is a veteran of the videogame and tech industries. In 2011, Burak was named one of the “Digital 25: Leaders in Emerging Entertainment” by the Producers Guild of America (PGA) and Variety Magazine for his work on games for impact.

He is currently SVP Business Development at Tilting Point and the Chairman of the influential organization Games for Change (G4C).

He has served as an Executive Advisor to organizations like EON Productions (producer of the James Bond films), The Tribeca Film Festival, Newsweek, and McCann Erickson, helping guide the strategic use of videogames to further brand engagement.

Prior to serving as G4C’s President from 2010 to 2015, Asi co-founded and led Impact Games, the creators of PeaceMaker and Play the News (acquired by Hybrid Learning Systems in 2010).

He is often interviewed by media, and has been invited to speak at conferences and institutions including TED Talks, Harvard Kennedy School, the Clinton Global Initiative, Sundance, the Skoll World Forum, CES, SXSW, GDC, and the US Army War College.

He is also a faculty member at the School of Visual Arts MFA in Design for Social Innovation and holds a Master of Entertainment Technology from Carnegie Mellon University.

John Dempsey

Blok Party

John is an Eagle Scout whose DNA resides in social play. A lifelong gamer with a technical background and passion for bringing people together, he created dozens of hardware electronics kits teaching kids how to code. Eventually, he dropped out of college to pursue his dream—to unite people with the power of play. Since then, he has gone on to create PlayTable, a revolutionary gaming project that is pioneering new space for social gaming.

William Tustin

Chicken Waffle

Bill is a partner in Centertec and Chicken Waffle. Centertec is a preeminent venue for providing unique, exciting VR/AR technologies to families, large groups, and students. Chicken Waffle is leading the way in XR Toys, XR Education, VR/AR Esports and high-quality VR/AR game development in the industry. Chicken Waffle has created several AR/VR toys for major brands under its white label program. Several of their industry partners' toys have won major awards and accolades for their cutting edge technology in AR/VR. Several of their AR/VR toys have become major STEM products for teachers and families across the world. In May 2019, Chicken Waffle won Best In Show VR at AWE in Santa Clara. At CES in 2020, Chicken Waffle won Best XR Esports Experience. They released a fun VR game and app called Baby Hands VR last year, where the player picks up toys in VR or on an app. Baby Hands VR is being played by all the top YouTube stars and has a total of over 650 million YouTube views, making it well-known by children across the world.

Stephanie Pottick, Esq.

Licensing, Business & Legal Consultant

Stephanie is a legal, licensing and business consultant who is passionate about helping entrepreneurs and corporations protect their brands and businesses. Licensed to practice law in California and New York, she focuses on trademarks, copyrights, contracts and licensing. Before becoming an attorney, Stephanie was an executive at Sky Kids Inc., a NJ toy company, where she was involved with various aspects of the business including sales, marketing, product creation, manufacturing and more. Stephanie’s slogan is Legal Advice Before You Need A Lawyer®. Her goal is to help brand and business owners create and grow successful programs through legal protection and by identifying opportunities, adding value and minimizing risk.

Mike Rothman

Co-Founder and CEO of Fatherly

Mike Rothman is the Co-Founder and CEO of Fatherly, the leading digital lifestyle brand for today's parents. Through a combination of expert advice, live experiences, and consumer products, Fatherly empowers moms and dads to raise great kids and lead more fulfilling adult lives.

Previously Rothman was one of the founding employees at Thrillist, responsible for all sales and revenue operations. Rothman also serves on a number of non-profit boards, including Career Gear, which provides mentoring and workplace appropriate clothing to men in poverty, as well as The Moth and ProPublica. Rothman is on the business advisory council for Hot Wheels, the number one selling toy company in the world. Rothman was named one of Ad Age's 40 Under 40 and Oprah's "Super Soul" list.