Nominations for the 2015 IGDA Chicago Board Elections have closed and elections are about to begin.
We have 3 nominees running for 2 available seats on the Board of Directors. We have provided their candidate statements below so you may review who has stepped up to run.
If you are a paid IGDA member, please watch your inbox for voting instructions.
2015 Candidates
Brian Eddy
I have been making games professionally for over 30 years from Commodore Vic-20 and C-64, to programming and designing pinball machines, redemption machines, arcade video machine, console games from the PS2 to Xbox360 era, PCs and most recently free to play games on Facebook and mobile/tablet devices. I have held most major rolls on a game development team from lead designer, programmer, art director, audio direction and production along with deep involvement in marketing and business side. All this gives me a wide range of knowledge and experience to share on how to make a wide variety of games.
Why IGDA Board?
I have years of experience in making video games and now want to help others do the same thing. I have lots of lessons learned along the way and I would like to share that knowledge with others in the gaming world to help them achieve their goals.
I enjoy working with all types of people and backgrounds who share a common interest and passion in making games. I love the variety and creativity that comes from a diverse group of people with a passion to create!
I’ve been making games specifically in Chicago for over 25 years. I want the gaming community to not only survive in Chicago but continue to grow! The IGDA has the ability to support existing developers but also to inspire and bring in new developers coming from school or hobbyist with a passion to make their own game.
I believe in the IGDA and its ability to help those in the gaming industry. I like that they are advocates for quality of life. That they are supporters of diversity because anyone can make a great game. They are an advocate for games as an art form which I very much believe in. The IGDA help people who are unfamiliar with the business and legal matter associated with games by having seminar to help people. And finally they help students in many way through helping set curriculums to awarding scholarships to grow our next generation of game developers.
As a youth looking to make games I would have LOVED to have had a group dedicated to the creation of games. This would have been invaluable to be as someone just starting out trying to makes games. Now that this organization exists I would like to help it thrive and continue to provide that outlet and the ability to meet up with other likeminded people to hone their craft in a fun environment.
Thank you for your consideration.
Ross A. Hersemann
My name is Ross A. Hersemann and I would like to submit myself for consideration for the open Board position with the Chicago Chapter of the IGDA. I would like to take this opportunity to share both my reasons for pursuing this position, and my relevant experience. I want to thank you in advance for your consideration.
I am an attorney currently practicing in Chicago. I am a solo practitioner, and I limit my law practice to developing technology and business matters, specifically video games. I have helped several local indie game developers incorporate their studios as businesses, filed their copyrights and trademarks, and reviewed and drafted their business contracts. I typically offer special rates for indie game developers, because I am a diehard gamer myself and I want to support their unique development.
While still in law school I founded the Video Game Law Society and organized the Chicago Video Game Law Summit. The Summit offered 5 academic panels on all aspects of video game law, including independent game development. Our speakers were lawyers, industry professionals, and game developers. I organized the entire event from start to finish and would bring that same level of organization to my work with the IGDA.
In addition to CVGLS, I am committed to industry education in other ways. I run a video game law blawg at www.loadinglaw.com, where I write articles devoted to legal developments in the video game industry. My work with Loading Law has led to many speaking events at conventions where I give presentations to developers and artists. I have spoken at IndyPopCon, Wizard World, the Ohio Game Dev Expo, EPXCon, and most recently ValorCon. I also gave a talk for the IGDA at DePaul several months ago.
I also currently serve as the President of the Board of the Video Game Art Gallery here in Chicago. I have presided over every board meeting since my induction, and I was the co-organizer of the HARDCORE/Casual event at Emporium this summer. We raised funds for local video game artists, and bestowed an award to one who had made great strides in legitimizing video games as an art form.
On the whole, I am dedicated to the Chicago indie video game community. I have attended nearly every Industry Night, Indie City Games Meetup, and event organized by the IGDA, Chicago Gaming Union, the Voxelles, and of course, innumerable legal seminars on technology. I want to bring my experience, organizational skills, and leadership to the IGDA. I want to facilitate collaboration with other Chicago game groups, promote educational programming, and provide networking opportunities for everyone in Chicago involved in games.
I look forward to hearing from you, and thank you for your consideration.
Kevin Treski
Last year I moved back to Chicago after working at Sony Electronics for the last eight years. Most recently I was the Strategy Manager for Corporate Business Development utilizing research and analysis to build business and product plans and roadmaps. Since I’ve been back in Chicago I’ve created two organizations around gaming. Chicago Gaming Union is a monthly outreach group which shows off indie games (many made in Chicago) at a bar to get people excited about new games and advocate for the developers. Play On Chicago is a 501(c)(3) organization that advocates for the revenue and job growth of local video game developers through research and co-marketing. I have also build the most complete map of Chicago’s video game development landscape as well as was selected as a volunteer for Bit Bash. No matter if I am selected as a board member or not, you can always count on me to act as a signal boost to any actives you need help promoting.
You can see more at:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevintreski
https://www.facebook.com/kevin.treski
Thank you for your time and best of luck!