PROGRAM

• Junction x Slush PLAY VR hackathon

  September 28 - 29 th @Reykjavík University

  Junction is a converging point for over a thousand developers, designers, and entrepreneurs from around the world. It’s a place where no idea is too crazy, and breaking the status quo is encouraged. Ultimately it is a place to have fun, meet like-minded people, and create cool inspiring projects. If building things excites you welcome to Helsinki in November!

   "At Junction, we're all about building cool new things, and that's exactly what the VR Jam is meant for. If you build something cool enough, you get to the stage of Slush PLAY!"

  For more information: Junction

Master of Ceremony:

• Chelsea Stark

  Games Editor at Mashable

  Chelsea Stark is Mashable's Games Editor, where she covers video games both great and small, virtual reality, esports and how all those connect to our culture. For the last four years, she's lead Mashable's gaming section, covering news, as well as features and reviews.

• Hilmar Veigar Pétursson

  CEO of CCP Games

  Hilmar has been leading CCP Games’ ongoing success and growth since his appointment as Chief Executive Officer in 2004. Under Hilmar’s management CCP’s critically acclaimed science-fiction game EVE Online is celebrating an unprecedented tenth consecutive year of subscriber growth. The Company released its second title, DUST 514, a free-to-play, massively multiplayer first-person shooter for the PlayStation®3 in 2013 and is also developing  EVE: Valkyrie, a multiplayer spaceship dogfighting shooter set in the EVE Universe. In addition, Hilmar has overseen the expansion of CCP operations to Shanghai, China as well as the strategic merger with Atlanta-based White Wolf Publishing in 2006, Before his appointment to the CEO position, Hilmar held the title of CCP’s Chief Technical Officer of CCP, heading the engineering effort required to create CCP’s persistent world technology and 3D engine. Prior to joining CCP in 2000, he served as the CTO of SmartVR, an OZ.com spin-off based on that company’s multi-user virtual reality technology following his tenure as the VP of software development for the OZ Studios division of OZ.com. Currently, he is also active on a number of boards and committees relating to Icelandic information technology and innovation. Hilmar has a B.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Iceland.

• Marshall Roslyn

  VP at Goldman Sachs

  Marshall Roslyn is a Vice President in TMT Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs. Based in San Francisco, he helps lead Goldman’s Virtual and Augmented Reality Investment Banking efforts and also advises companies in the technology, media and education sectors.

  Prior to re-joining Goldman Sachs, Marshall was a member of the investment team at Learn Capital where he worked in both Beijing and Silicon Valley. Earlier in his career, he was a Princeton in Asia fellow in Shanghai and worked as an analyst in Goldman Sachs’s Executive Office.

  Marshall received his MBA from Tsinghua University and his undergraduate degree from Princeton University.

• Masaru Ohnogi

  Head of Global Business Development of gumi Inc

  Nogi is head of Global Business Development of gumi Inc., one of Japan’s leading mobile gaming companies, listed within the 1st section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. gumi founded $50M size VR fund called The Venture Reality Fund with local General Partner Marco and Tipatat in Silicon Valley which focuses seed or early stage startups and Tokyo VR Startups/Seoul VR Startups which organizes the first VR incubation program in Tokyo/Seoul and Japan’s top VR community. Nogi is a 15-year veteran of international business, he has been instrumental to the acceleration of gumi’s overseas business outside of Japan that now accurately contributes nearly half of worldwide revenues. Nogi was the former CEO of gumi Korea and the CEO of GCREST America, a provider of PC online and mobile social games.

• Chet Faliszek

  Developer at Valve

  Chet is an American videogame writer and one of the main writers for the Valve Corporation. He has worked together with his co-writers in order to create the storylines for the Half-Life and Portal series, along with having personally written the story for Left 4 Dead.

Moderator:  Neil Murray

• Hilmar Veigar Pétursson

  CEO of CCP Games

  Hilmar has been leading CCP Games’ ongoing success and growth since his appointment as Chief Executive Officer in 2004. Under Hilmar’s management CCP’s critically acclaimed science-fiction game EVE Online is celebrating an unprecedented tenth consecutive year of subscriber growth. The Company released its second title, DUST 514, a free-to-play, massively multiplayer first-person shooter for the PlayStation®3 in 2013 and is also developing  EVE: Valkyrie, a multiplayer spaceship dogfighting shooter set in the EVE Universe. In addition, Hilmar has overseen the expansion of CCP operations to Shanghai, China as well as the strategic merger with Atlanta-based White Wolf Publishing in 2006, Before his appointment to the CEO position, Hilmar held the title of CCP’s Chief Technical Officer of CCP, heading the engineering effort required to create CCP’s persistent world technology and 3D engine. Prior to joining CCP in 2000, he served as the CTO of SmartVR, an OZ.com spin-off based on that company’s multi-user virtual reality technology following his tenure as the VP of software development for the OZ Studios division of OZ.com. Currently, he is also active on a number of boards and committees relating to Icelandic information technology and innovation. Hilmar has a B.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Iceland.
• Don Stein

  Virtual Reality Investments, LLC (VRI)

  Don is working with a group of four partners to raise the world’s first VC fund for Web VR startups. Prior, he has helped operate an angel fund for VR, completing seven VR investments in 2016; Upload VR, Omnivirt, Visby, SVRF, Visby, Wonder and one stealth. 

• Christina Bechhold

  Principal, Samsung Global Innovation Center Co-Founder and Managing Director, Empire Angels

  Christina is a Principal at Samsung’s Global Innovation Center, based in New York, focused on early stage investments in software and services. She is also Co-Founder and Managing Director of Empire Angels, a member led angel group of young professionals investing in technology startups with a focus on supporting young entrepreneurs. Christina is a Regular Contributor  for the Wall Street Journal on startups and small business, a columnist for Inc.com, a mentor at The Brandery and Venture for America and a member of VFA’s Rise Committee focused on increasing diversity in entrepreneurship. She is a frequent speaker and panelist at events in the U.S., Europe and Asia and was recognized by the New York Business Journal as a 2016 Woman of Influence.

   Christina was previously a Vice President at Citigroup with background in capital markets, emerging markets and structured finance. She serves as Chairman of Hope on a String, a non-profit, grassroots organization that seeks to foster an environment of social transformation and economic development in Haiti through participation in music as well as Vice President of the Board of Governors of the Hotchkiss School Alumni Association.

• Phil Chen

  Managing Partner at Presence Capital & Advisor at Horizons Ventures

  Phil spent the past decade in mobile and digital media. In 2006, he was VP of Product for the Alex eReader which was later sold to Barnes & Noble that became the inaugural Nook. He then founded Information Humanities in 2007 that published the award winning immersive Glo Bible. Prior to his corporate endeavors, Phil built schools and orphanages in the “stans” particularly Tajikistan and Afghanistan where he came up with his ebook education idea for the Alex eReader. Phil holds a B.A and B.S in Mathematics and Physics from UCSD, an M.Div on Postmodern Philosophy from Fuller Seminary. His passion and curiosity for nature also led him to work as an astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics & Space Sciences at UCSD (2003) and as a research assistant at SLAC (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in 2004). In 2008, he joined HTC as head of business and corporate development, leading partnerships in the Silicon Valley and Hollywood including investments in KKBox, SoundHound, Magnet, and the acquisition of Beats by Dre. In 2013, he serendipitously discovered VR at HTC and sourced the Valve relationship that became the Vive. Most recently, he founded the first VR/AR fund Presence Capital and joined Horizons Ventures as Advisor investing in VR/AR, AI, and Space Ventures. He serves on the board of several companies including Improbable in London, Soul Machines in New Zealand, and Eyeway in Israel, an advisor to the Vive in Taiwan and Lytro in Silicon Valley and an angel investor in companies like Lifebeam, Deep Optics, and Space Pharma. He is a proud and happy father of Miles, Naomi and Olive.
• Hrish Lotlikar

  Co-Founder & CBDO, The Rogue Initiative

  Hrish is Co-Founder and Chief Business Development Officer of The Rogue Initiative. The Rogue Initiative is a Los Angeles-based entertainment company composed of award-winning entertainment industry professionals including alumni from Amblin Entertainment, Pixar, Dreamworks Animation, Disney and Activision Entertainment creating new cinematic interactive virtual reality, feature film, and television content.  Hrish was a founding Managing Partner of EastLabs, a seed stage venture capital fund based in Kyiv, Ukraine. He was the Senior Business Developer/Global Evangelist at Toptal, backed by Andreessen Horowitz, providing elite software engineers to companies globally.  He was previously in venture capital at SpencerTrask Ventures in NYC, an investment banker at HSBC Securities, and at UBS Investment Bank in investment banking/M&A and in global business development at management consulting firm Aon Hewitt.  Hrish earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science/Pre-Med from Rice University, a Master of Public Health and MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

• Neil Murray

  Tech journalist and Founding Editor of The Nordic Web

  Neil S W Murray is a European tech journalist and Founding Editor of The Nordic Web, the number one resource for data and analysis on the Nordic startup scene. 

  Neil is a passionate community builder and is involved in many projects across the region to help promote and grow the Nordic startup community. 

• Chris Traub

  Chairman and Co-Founder of the SES Group

  Chris Traub is Chairman and Co-Founder of the SES Group. Based in Taipei and Shanghai, Chris travels regularly throughout the SES Group’s offices and worldwide. Over the past 25 years, Chris has led and supported hundreds of senior level search engagements, across a broad range of industries. He is particularly well known in Asia for his search work in technology and private equity, and participates in many leading global CEO forums annually, including TED, Forbes Global CEO, and the World Economic Forum where SES is a Global Growth Company member. Chris leads the TMT (Technology, Media, and Telecommunications), and Private Equity Practice Groups. Chris began his executive search career in 1988 when he established the first retained executive search firm in Taipei, that later joined Ward Howell International, a leading global executive search firm in 1992. In 1998, Chris and two partners established the Strategic Executive Search (SES) Group. Born in the US and educated in the US, the Philippines, and Taiwan, Chris has lived in Greater China continuously since 1986. He graduated from Oberlin College with a Bachelor’s degree in East Asian Studies & Cultural Anthropology. He is fully bicultural and bilingual in English and Mandarin. He is a published author, as well as a keen adventure athlete, musician, and yoga instructor.

• Steinar Svalesen

  Partner at Beringer Finance

  Steinar Svalesen has over 25 years’ experience with mobile and digital businesses. His focus has been on business development and investments in disruptive early-stage and transformational growth companies. He has built, managed and sold companies in Norway and USA. Steinar has management experience from leading international telecom operators and infrastructure providers. He is on the board of various early-stage Scandinavian technology companies, and more recently he has been working actively with projects within the FinTech industry.

Moderator: David Traub

• Athomas Goldberg

  President at Lifelike & Believable Animation Design, Inc.

  Computer graphics industry veteran with a passion for real-time interactive character animation and 20 years of experience as an artist, research scientist, company executive, animation systems architect and gameplay animation director for AAA titles across all major platforms and genres. Interested in working with individuals and companies driving innovation on the frontiers of digital media and interactive content.
• Claudio Pedica

  User Experience Engineer at Sólfar Studios

  Claudio Pedica is a designer, technologist and researcher with experience in artificial intelligence, sociology, technology R&D and interaction design. He works at the forefront of technology, innovation and digital creative expression. He designs to keep people emotionally engaged by crafting meaningful digital experiences that impact their senses and social instincts.
• Dan Cook

  Founder of Eye Mynd Brainwave VR

  Dan Cook earned his Ph.D. in Physics and studied cognitive neuroscience and has been working on brainwave interpretation technology for over 20 years. In 2013 he founded Eye Mynd, a developmental company focusing on technology that interprets brainwaves in real time, giving hands-free, voice-free control of your apps and games.
• Marshall R. Millett

  Founder & CEO at Aemass, Inc.

  Marshall R. Millett is the founder of Aemass, a start-up in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood producing 3D documentation and true-to-life 3D technology for live events. Since 2009 he has aggressively explored and implemented 3D documentation and virtualization technologies, focusing on computer vision innovation, data-recording techniques, remote access through digitization of full-scale environments, cultural heritage preservation and long-term storage solutions. Previously, Marshall served as a senior archaeologist and GIS administrator across California and the western U.S. In 2011 he founded MARS Cultural Services to pursue best practices and methods for true environment documentation in 3D. Millett is an extensive traveler, gaining professional cultural heritage experience in over 30 U.S. states and 11 other countries. He has done anthropological / archaeological studies in Scotland, England, Oceania, Brazil, Switzerland, Tokyo, Thailand, India and Bhutan. He holds a dual Mathematics B.A., Cum Laude Anthropology B.A., Advanced Graduate Degree in Geographic Information Systems and is an Alumnus of the School for International Training.
• David Traub

  VR Media Producer

  David has enjoyed 30+ years of international experience as an award-winning digital executive producer/producer, storyteller, writer, media educator, investor, venture catalyst, speaker, philanthropist, board member and/or advisor to or for numerous creative projects, startups, institutions, multi-national and government entities.  His mission:  the delivery of compelling, positive content at the intersection of mass media storytelling, intelligent technologies and immersive content delivery systems (e.g., VR, AR, MR, Volumetric Video [Real Holography], AI, IOT, etc.) In his 30^th year of VR activities, David’s first VR project in 1989 was the design of a VR-targeted ‘psychodynamic holodeck’ as his thesis at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, with support studies at the MIT Media Lab and Harvard’s Business School.  His second VR project was serving as primary VR consultant and Display Graphics Producer for the 1992 feature film, THE LAWNMOWER MAN, the first movie to introduce VR to the masses ($250m in revenues). During the 90’s David co-wrote/co-produced multiple award-winning 3D/immersive videos games in the music business, including ON THE ROAD WITH BB KING and THE PROMISED LAND, with additional digital collaborations with Peter Gabriel, U2, The Moody Blues, the Second City Comedy Troop, MSN and others. During VR’s hiatus David began executive producing social impact feature films and television, including JOBS (Executive Producer: 2013) and BRONX BULL (Co-Producer: 2016). Current film projects in development include RISE, THE GRID, RICKSHAW GIRL, DEPORTED and QUEEN OF THE DANCE HALL With respect to present VR/AR activities David is currently collaborating with Aemass.com (patents enabling Volumetric Video/Holographic Character Capture); Eyemyndbvr.com (patents enable brainwave-driven machine control, emotions); PantomimeCorp.com (patents enabling VR content experience to be shared across a wide variety of devices simultaneously by multiple users), and various other international industrial, entertainment and educational VR/AR companies.  David is currently executive producing the VR music video CATCH ON FIRE, featuring Director Brett Leonard (LAWNMOWER MAN) and the music of Danish pop star Claes Clem; and is contracting to Executive produce LAWNMOWER MAN REBORN (the LAWNMOWER MAN Sequel). David speaks globally at VR/AR conferences (SVVR, AWE, Vision Summit, Digital Hollywood, etc.), has been published 30+ times across numerous publications – including his late 1980’s articles on the use of VR for Education (published in books by both Microsoft Press and Carnegie Mellon press), and serves as an Ambassador for the Immersive Technology Alliance (http://www.ita3D.com), a non-profit industry group focused on the evolution of a robust VR /AR industry.  David is awaiting word on a “VR in Education” patent with 16 claims he has recently commenced filing. In 1984 David earned his undergraduate degrees in rhetoric and film with honors from the University of California at Berkeley.  His focus was the application of Soviet propaganda techniques to the positive evolution of educational media.

• Eugene Kislyi

  Co-Founder of Wargaming

  Mr. Eugene Kislyi served as Vice President of Engineering of RadiumOne Inc. and served at Bluelithium, Inc. Mr. Kislyi was responsible for research and development to establish gWallet as a technology leader in the social media advertising marketplace. His experience begins with being a co-founder of Wargaming.net, a video game development company in 1998. In October 2007, he joined Yahoo! Inc. At Yahoo, he managed development of TAO, a next-generation analytics and optimization engine. He co-founded AdRevolver. He served as the Executive Director of AdRevolver, managing development, marketing and sales issues. He led AdRevolver into strategic partnership with emerging industry leader BlueLithium, where he supervised all research and development activities as well as takes active part in shaping BlueLithium’s growth strategy. 

• Jacob Ivstam

  Business Performance Director at King

  Jacob currently works as Business Performance Director at King in Stockholm where he uses King’s massive amount of player data to improve the games’ engagement, virality and monetization. He was part of the Candy Crush Soda Saga team making use of data to optimize game content and maximize the chance of a successful launch. Jacob is also an app entrepreneur with a couple of apps in his portfolio.

• Andy Brammall

  Technical Sales Director, EMEA, Unity Technologies

  Andy has 13 years experience of business development in games technology, the past six of which have been with Unity Technologies.

Moderator: Kish Hirani

• Stephen Jarret

  VP Game Design at King

  As well as elevating game design, narrative  and creative direction across King’s studios, Stephen overlooks a team of 144 Game designers, Narrative designers and Level designers.   With 20 years of Game design experience; covering  console, handheld, MMORPG and Mobile, Stephen has worked for companies such as  Bullfrog, Nickelodeon, Namco, and Disney/Pixar.

• Mik Stroyberg

  Founder & CEO of Lemonsqueeze

  Mik has a impressive track record as an enthusiastic and highly motivated leader with 15+ years of proven success in strategic sales, building new businesses, being the catalyst of new sales processes and experienced builder of businesses in all sizes.

  This includes innovative customer strategies and well thought strategic partnerships with companies like UN, Redbull, Nike, The Atlantic, Adidas, VICE, V Magazine, New York Times, Smithsonian and 100+ other high-end brands. As an intrapreneur at Mecom, Mik founded and grew stand-alone solutions like Sweetdeal in 5 countries and more than 80 cities and initiated the US expansion for the digital publishing company, Issuu.

  Today Mik’s company Lemonsqueeze has helped more than 50 companies enter and expand in the US and currently Lemonsqueeze houses 16 companies from their awesome incubator, Lemonsqueeze Space, in New York. Hopefully the birth place of many unicorns! Lemonsqueeze is a market expansion platform that helps European business quickly establish and scale in the United States. Their turnkey solution transforms any US strategy into an established, staffed and active on-the-ground operation in a period of weeks. Lemonsqueeze will remove the hurdles to expansion and grow any business in the US quickly and efficiently, allowing companies to remain focused on managing their core markets.

• Sara Lisa Vogl

  Creative Squirrel & UX Designer at Lucid Trips

  Sara Lisa Vogl is a creative squirrel with a passion for latest tech and a VR Nerd since the Rift DK1. She´s working in the fields of UX / UI, Communication & Art on the VR Exploration Game Lucid Trips. Sara teaches at Design Factory International in Hamburg and is an active part of the Indie VR gaming scene. As co-founder of VR Nerds she is building up nerd-human relations in that field. Sara Lisa debuted as a self-proclaimed VR Shaman for longtime VR experiences during her dis/connected performance with collaborator Thorsten S. Wiedemann. Since then she is creating and exploring long term VR Trips in collaboration with academic research. She is also an avid skateboarder and has a crush on quantum physics and neuroscience.
• David Reichelt

  Founder of Color Switch

  From humble beginnings, former U.S. Army medic and professional magician turned self-taught, smash-hit game developer, David Reichelt, caught lightning in a bottle with his release of global phenomenon COLOR SWITCH. With an indomitable work ethic, Reichelt had already published over forty titles before striking gold with Color Switch. Reichelt leverages non-technical environments to build his games, and serves as an archetype for the modern gaming entrepreneur. Now, David spends his time traveling the world to share the lessons he learned, and help other aspiring entrepreneurs realize their dreams of standout success.

• David James Thue

  Assistant Professor at Reykjavik University

  David Thue is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Reykjavik University, where he teaches and conducts research in Game Design, Artificial Intelligence, and Interactive Storytelling. His research explores software systems that can automatically adapt to individual players, toward managing their experiences in a personalized way.

• Kish Hirani

  Consultant

  Kish Hirani marks 20 years in the games industry this year. He started as software engineer, swiftly attaining tech director or equivalent roles at development studios and publishing house like Acclaim Studios, THQ to name a few. He moved to platform holders some 10 years ago starting with Microsoft then settling at Sony as their head of developer services for some eight years developing and managing resources for all dev support-facing technical activities including PlayStationVR for the historic PAL regions. Currently Kish is a freelance consultant in the industry as well as chairing a UK advocacy group promoting ethnic minority diversity in the games industry.

• Jana Palm

  General Manager of Stugan

  Jana Palm (previously Karlikova) is the General Manager of Stugan, a world-class games accelerator in the middle of the Swedish woods. She has been there from the beginning and has helped build this unique project, which brings together talented game developers from all over the world and lets them work on their projects in an isolated place.

• Junction x Slush PLAY VR hackathon

  September 28 - 29 th @Reykjavík University

  Junction is a converging point for over a thousand developers, designers, and entrepreneurs from around the world. It’s a place where no idea is too crazy, and breaking the status quo is encouraged. Ultimately it is a place to have fun, meet like-minded people, and create cool inspiring projects. If building things excites you welcome to Helsinki in November!

   "At Junction, we're all about building cool new things, and that's exactly what the VR Jam is meant for. If you build something cool enough, you get to the stage of Slush PLAY!"

  For more information: Junction

Master of Ceremony:

• Chelsea Stark

  Games Editor at Mashable

  Chelsea Stark is Mashable's Games Editor, where she covers video games both great and small, virtual reality, esports and how all those connect to our culture. For the last four years, she's lead Mashable's gaming section, covering news, as well as features and reviews.

• Brett Leonard

  CCO of Virtuosity

  An award winning and innovative filmmaker with over 25 years of Hollywood experience, Brett Leonard is one of the industries visionaries in the advancement of storytelling through digital media.

  Mr. Leonard became a globally-recognised pioneer of digital filmmaking after directing and co-writing the cult classic Lawnmower Man, popularising the concept and term of VR to global audiences. Mr. Leonard is the co-founder of Virtuosity, a premiere VR consultancy group and is a sought after speaker in the VR/AR industry as a leading expert on defining interactive storytelling and on ethical frameworks for these powerful new mediums.

• Dadi Einarsson

  Co-founder and Creative Director of RVX

  Dadi Einarsson is co-founder and Creative Director of RVX and has lead the company from its formation in 2008 as Framestore Reykjavik.

  He has comprehensive international experience in visual effects after working with The Mill and Framestore in London, New York and in Reykjavik.

  Dadi has worked with groundbreaking directors and his credits include Harry Potter, Contraband, The Golden Compass, 2 Guns and Gravity.

  He is currently supervising the VFX for the feature film Everest, directed by Baltasar Kormákur.

Moderator: Dennis Mitzner

• Brett Leonard

  CCO of Virtuosity

  An award winning and innovative filmmaker with over 25 years of Hollywood experience, Brett Leonard is one of the industries visionaries in the advancement of storytelling through digital media.

  Mr. Leonard became a globally-recognised pioneer of digital filmmaking after directing and co-writing the cult classic Lawnmower Man, popularising the concept and term of VR to global audiences. Mr. Leonard is the co-founder of Virtuosity, a premiere VR consultancy group and is a sought after speaker in the VR/AR industry as a leading expert on defining interactive storytelling and on ethical frameworks for these powerful new mediums.

• Khayyam Wakil

  VR Strategy & Innovation / Creative Partnerships at Live Planet

  Khayyam is an award-winning creative and futurist with over a decade of dedicated service in the digital arts with deep seeded roots as an entrepreneur. He is widely known and well respected as a speaker, influencer and innovator. With every new medium that technology iterates upon, Khayyam has adapted and broken every pattern to find different pathways to different outcomes.
• Peter Y Levin

  President of Interactive Ventures & Games at Lionsgate

  Digital media entrepreneur Peter Levin joined Lionsgate in April 2014 in the newly created role of President of Interactive Ventures & Games.  Reporting to Lionsgate Chief Executive Officer Jon Feltheimer, he is responsible for expanding Lionsgate’s content into video games and other interactive ventures, including incubation of new properties, investment in existing games and digital media vehicles as well as extending Lionsgate’s portfolio of brands and franchises into the gaming and virtual reality space. Mr. Levin has shepherded the Company’s investments in Telltale Games, Next Games and Mobcrush, and engineered numerous strategic partnerships with Oculus, WEVR, Starbreeze Studios, Fifth Journey, Kabam, HTC Valve, Side-Kick VR, Kiwi and IGT.  During the past 18 months, Lionsgate has launched or begun developing Hunger Games, Expendables and John Wick video games, an Orange is the New Black social casino game and twoNow You See Me mobile games. Mr. Levin has also spearheaded the Company’s acquisition of iconic video game properties including Borderlands and Candy Crush to be adapted into feature films and television shows. Before joining Lionsgate, Mr. Levin served as CEO and Co-Founder of Nerdist Industries, a multiplatform creator of digital content including a premium content YouTube channel, a news division, a sizable social media footprint and a network of podcasts.  Prior to that, he was an executive advisor to Japanese media juggernaut Yoshimoto Kogyo, MAG Interactive, digital comic and graphic novel platform comiXology and Rovio Entertainment. Mr. Levin has also been associated with some of the most valuable game franchises in the world including Angry Birds. He began his career in the Corporate Advisory Group at Creative Artists Agency and subsequently worked in the Corporate and Strategic Planning groups at the Walt Disney Company, where he also served as a senior producer for Disney Online.
• Ben Bohn

  CEO & Managing Director at RVX

  Ben Bohn is a veteran of the gaming and entertainment industry. He joined RVX as CEO in 2016. Ben was previously head of graphics and audio production for a decade at CCP Games where he primarily worked on the legendary EVE Online universe, also contributing to the foundations of other projects CCP projects. His experience as an innovator, producer and manager spans over 15 years, from start-up to AAA game production. Prior to his tenure at CCP he managed games production and new products development at 3-Plus, a pacesetter in children’s interactive entertainment. Expert at building teams and versatile projects, Ben also holds degrees in mechanical engineering, journalism and communication.
• Dennis Mitzner

  Freelance Tech Journalist

  Originally from Helsinki, Dennis is a tech journalist based in Tel Aviv. Dennis writes about a wide range of topics, from tech news to emerging technology trends with a focus on the Nordic region and Israel. His work is regularly published in TechCrunch, Venture Beat, InfoWorld and others. He is also covering the Nordic startup and investment scene for The Nordic Web.

• Stefania G. Halldorsdottir

  General Manager at CCP

  Stefania is the general manager for CCP Iceland. She joined CCP six year ago to work on the critically acclaimed science-fiction game EVE Online first as a content manager, before taking over the position of Senior Producer and later Development Director. Stefanía worked for CCP Shanghai from 2014 to oversee production of EVE Online in China and emergent projects including virtual reality action game Gunjack, dubbed “highlight of the Gear VR” (Variety) platform from Samsung and has since been released on Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and is forthcoming on PlayStation 4.

  Stefania has been working with multidisciplinary teams at CCP and her vision is to continue to innovate at CCP and motivate and support teams to deliver on their full potential.

  She has also served as a board member and Chairman of the board for the Icelandic Gaming Industry.

  Stefania holds a M.Sc. degree in Environmental Science from the Engineering faculty from the University of Iceland and in her spare time she learns Chinese.   

• George Scotto

  Director & Business Development CRYENGINE at Crytek

  George has been playing games since the 70's when he started playing his favorite game Dungeon and Dragons as a child. He entered the video games industry back in 1998, working at Sony Online as part of the original team that developed MMO's such as EverQuest, Star Wars Galaxies and DC Universe Online. He later went on to work at British Developer Splash Damage with the development teams who created award winning titles Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Batman Arkham Origins and Gears of War: Ultimate Edition. His career focus has been on improving quality, user experiences and community engagement. His current role at Crytek is Business Director focusing on growing the CRYENGINE and VR businesses.

Moderator: Leo Mirani

• Tommy Palm

  CEO & Game Designer at Resolution Games

  While he’s known for shepherding Candy Crush Saga to mobile – and so helping to bankroll King’s $7 billion IPO in 2014 – Tommy Palm’s success story stretches back to the 1980s, when he began programming games for the Commodore 64. Between then and the dizzying success of King’s bestseller, Palm founded five including this latest venture, Resolution Games, a development studio with an eye on creating virtual reality games experiences everyone can enjoy. Their first major mobile VR fishing game, Bait!, is already proving their concept as its known as one of the most popular VR titles of all time. Turning towards the embryonic potential of VR rather than resting on his mobile gaming laurels might seem a bold bet for Palm. But, this serial mover and shaker prefers being ahead of the pack when it comes to new technology, saying it’s the only way to be in the sweet spot when the revolutionary is ready for the limelight.

• George Scotto

  Director & Business Development CRYENGINE at Crytek

  George has been playing games since the 70's when he started playing his favorite game Dungeon and Dragons as a child. He entered the video games industry back in 1998, working at Sony Online as part of the original team that developed MMO's such as EverQuest, Star Wars Galaxies and DC Universe Online. He later went on to work at British Developer Splash Damage with the development teams who created award winning titles Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Batman Arkham Origins and Gears of War: Ultimate Edition. His career focus has been on improving quality, user experiences and community engagement. His current role at Crytek is Business Director focusing on growing the CRYENGINE and VR businesses.

• Olafur Andri Ragnarsson

  Technical Visionary and Investor

  Ólafur Andri Ragnarsson is a technical visionary and investor. He was co-founder and former Chief Software Architect at Betware, now Novomatic Lottery Solutions (NLS). Today, NLS is one of the leading providers of online lottery and gaming platform software. NLS's platform is running the most innovative lotteries and gaming operators in the online and mobile market. Ólafur Andri serves as Technical Visionary at NLS.

  Ólafur Andri has a faculty position as an adjunct a Reykjavík University School of Computer Science. On fall term, he teaches a course on Software Design and Implementation. On spring term, a course called New technology, covering emerging trends in technology and how to understand technology disruptions.

  Ólafur Andri is also an active investor and consultant to gaming startups. Among companies he is involved with are Solid Cloud, Raw Fury Games and Armada Interactive.

• Hrafn Thorri Thórisson

  CEO & Co-Founder of Aldin Dynamics

  Hrafn Thorri Thórisson is the CEO and co-founder of Aldin Dynamics, a virtual reality company working on next-generation development tools for VR. Before the founding of Aldin in early 2013, Hrafn specialized in design & development of virtual worlds, AI systems and simulations.

• Kjartan Pierre Emilsson

  CEO and Co-Founder of Sólfar

  Prior to co-founding Sólfar Studios, Kjartan was the Lead Game Designer of EVE Online at CCP Games, later establishing CCP’s first studio abroad in Shanghai and directing it for 5 years. He eventually moved back to Iceland to take the role of Principal Game Designer and work on Dust 514 and EVE Universe. Preceding his tenure at CCP, from 1995 to 2001, Kjartan was the CTO of OZ.COM, an Icelandic virtual reality company. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Chaos Physics.
• Leo Mirani

  News editor at The Economist

  Leo Mirani is the news editor at The Economist, where he runs the website and helps oversee The Economist’s news operation across platforms. Prior to The Economist, he worked as technology reporter at Quartz, writing about online advertising, European technology policy and telecoms penetration in the developing world.

• Karl Magnus Troedsson

  Partner & Game Patron at Raw Fury Games

  Working in the industry because of his passion to create great entertainment in the form of games. Recently left the AAA space to focus on helping small developers create, fund, ship and publish their amazing work. Strong believer in the idea that passionate and skilled individuals and teams, collaborating with an open mind, working towards ambitious goals, prioritizing the players while applying industrious work and an extreme attention to detail leads to great games.

• Iris Andresdottir

  Senior Producer at King

  Iris Andresdottir currently works as a Senior Producer for King – of Candy Crush fame – where she’s been involved with new initiatives and projects. Previously she has held various executive and production titles for companies like Stardoll, Meteor Entertainment, Gogogic and more. She has a reputation for helping teams organize themselves to be autonomous and independent while still delivering beyond expectations. She is passionate about the people that work in the industry and the power they wield when properly motivated.

Moderator: Will Freeman

• Sean Lee

  Chief Strategy Officer at Wargaming

  Sean Lee is the Chief Corporate Development Officer at Wargaming, a leading global online game developer and publisher, where he has been since the beginning of 2013. He manages the key strategic initiatives of Wargaming including M&A, investments, strategic partnerships and key market expansion.

  Prior to Wargaming, Sean was the Director of Business Development at Tencent’s headquarters in Shenzhen, China, and helped cover global business and investment opportunities across broader technology, with a focus on Internet and gaming.

• Oddur Magnusson

  CTO / Founder of Klang Games

  After 7 years at CCP Games, Oddur moved to Berlin, joined forces with his friends to start Klang Games, a studio focusing on multiplayer games for emerging platforms.  Oddur has strong technical experience in multiplayer game development in addition to insights gathered in setting up a european gaming studio over the last two years.
• Jonas Antonsson

  Reality Distortionist at Raw Fury

  Having worked at Paradox Interactive, Irisi, Gogogic and Meteor Entertainment, and currently on the board of the Nordic Game Institute and “Chief Everything Officer” at Raw Fury Games, Jónas is a serial entrepreneur (and possibly immortal).
• Jana Palm

  General Manager of Stugan

  Jana Palm (previously Karlikova) is the General Manager of Stugan, a world-class games accelerator in the middle of the Swedish woods. She has been there from the beginning and has helped build this unique project, which brings together talented game developers from all over the world and lets them work on their projects in an isolated place.
• Thor Fridriksson

  Founder of Plain Vanilla Games

  Thor Fridriksson is an Internet entrepreneur who founded Plain Vanilla Games in 2010, a mobile game development studio that created the first multi-platform and real-time social trivia engine. Plain Vanilla Games have released high-profile titles that include Twilight QuizUp and Nat Geo QuizUp before launching their hit social trivia game, QuizUp, the biggest trivia game in the world. Born in Reykjavik, Iceland, Thor holds a BS degree from the Reykjavik University and an MBA from the University of Oxford.
• Will Freeman

  Freelance video game journalist

  Will Freeman is a freelance video game journalist, having written for national newspapers and the consumer, specialist and trade press for 10 years, contributing to titles including The Guardian, Edge, Eurogamer, The Observer and Develop. His writing focuses on not just the games medium, but also the technology, business and creative process of the games industry itself. Will equally serves as a consultant, events producer, mentor, researcher, speaker and script editor in the world of games. And he still spends as much time with an arcade cabinet as he does playing games on console or mobile. 

• Chris Donahue

  Director, Developer Relations at AMD

  Chris has nearly 25 years of experience in the video game, hardware and software, Internet, and cloud gaming industries, and is a seasoned veteran in leading start-ups, growing small to mid-size technology firms, as well as managing successful programs at Fortune 500 companies. He recently joined AMD, and manages the Microsoft Alliances as well as a number of initiatives for the company.

• Elisabet Gretarsdottir

  Marketing Director Live Services at EA Games, DICE

  Elísabet is a marketing professional whose success is driven by a deep understanding of human motivation and sociology. Joining CCP Games in 2006 as marketing director, she was the architect of EVE Online’s global marketing strategy helping propel EVE Online into an international phenomenon. After joining Arion bank in 2012 she joined Dice in 2015 as marketing director.

Moderator: Julie Heyde

• Chet Faliszek

  Developer at Valve

  Chet is an American videogame writer and one of the main writers for the Valve Corporation. He has worked together with his co-writers in order to create the storylines for the Half-Life and Portal series, along with having personally written the story for Left 4 Dead.
• Sara Lisa Vogl

  Creative Squirrel & UX Designer at Lucid Trips

  Sara Lisa Vogl is a creative squirrel with a passion for latest tech and a VR Nerd since the Rift DK1. She´s working in the fields of UX / UI, Communication & Art on the VR Exploration Game Lucid Trips. Sara teaches at Design Factory International in Hamburg and is an active part of the Indie VR gaming scene. As co-founder of VR Nerds she is building up nerd-human relations in that field. Sara Lisa debuted as a self-proclaimed VR Shaman for longtime VR experiences during her dis/connected performance with collaborator Thorsten S. Wiedemann. Since then she is creating and exploring long term VR Trips in collaboration with academic research. She is also an avid skateboarder and has a crush on quantum physics and neuroscience.
• Julie Heyde

  #ChickenBitch at VRUnicorns

  Julie is a game jammer with a crush on semi-realistic VR sports games with a twist of dark humor and brutality. Raised in VikingLand and fueled by beer, mushrooms and rainbows. Flying with unicorns and riding on wolves. One of the organizers of SHAYLA GAMES and #ChickenBitch of VRUnicorns (#SelfieTennis, #SkiJump, #SprintRace, #Archery, #RAGNAROKvr et al) together with a group of European game jammers. Based in Copenhagen, Denmark, and grew up playing video games with her two older brothers. They called it babysitting. Worked in the video game industry for a decade. Started on the investment side, next as a connector between game developers, publishers and technology developers through her company, Bandello, and is now all about jamming on VR games.

Vignir Örn Guðmundsson - IGI Chairman

• Vignir Gudmundsson

  CEO & Co-Founder of Radiant Games

  Vignir graduated from Reykjavik University with a BSc. degree in Mathematics and a MSc. degree in Computer Science. He is the CEO and co-founder of Radiant Games and the chairman for the Icelandic Gaming Industry federation (IGI). In the last 2 years, Vignir and his co-founders at Radiant Games have worked hard at trying to create the best playful coding experiences possible. The first experience that they have created is a mobile coding game called Box Island, which introduces kids to the fundamentals of coding through an exciting adventure. The game won “Best Fun for Everyone” at the Nordic Game Awards 2016 and was featured this summer on the App Store as #1 Kids app in over 75 countries.