Speakers

Jane Lee (She/Her) is the Director of Production at iThrive Games, where she leads the design and development of educational games and tools for teens. With a background in psychology, Jane specializes in translating research into engaging, youth-centered experiences. Her work is grounded in codesign with young people, partnering with youth, educators, and researchers to ensure learning experiences reflect teens’ lived experiences and needs. She has spoken about the intersection of education, game design, and mental health at UNESCO, Games for Change, Serious Play, and the American Psychological Association Convention.

Janine Scheer-Erb (JES) is a multimedia artist, game designer, poet, and curator from Vienna. Her concept-driven practice moves between installation and performance, engaging internet subcultures, algorithms, and poetic encounter. Her work creates intimacy through vulnerability, often addressing dark themes with softness and humor. With a queer-feminist lens, she foregrounds care, collectivity, and play.

Jennifer Javornik is an international speaker and thought leader on the topics of game-based learning and games for positive impact. Ms. Javornik is currently the Chief Partnerships Officer and Board Member for Filament Games. This award-winning video game studio specializes in digital games, simulations, VR, and AR experiences for positive impact. Having partnered with organizations like Meta, Roblox, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Smithsonian, and Amazon, Filament Games has won numerous awards from organizations such as Games for Change, the Webbys, and the Serious Play Awards. Ms. Javornik is a statewide video game industry leader and a founding board member of the Wisconsin Games Alliance.

Jennifer is a seasoned strategist at the intersection of cultural narrative and commercial marketing. As the Co-Founder of Narratify, she leverages a deep-rooted expertise in communications—honed during her tenure at Ubisoft—to help global studios build games that resonate across borders. Jennifer doesn't just market games; she ensures they are built on a foundation of authentic representation. A dual-threat in the industry, she serves as an Authenticity Consultant and a Games Journalist at RFI, where her analyses shape the conversation on the global stage. Since 2020, she has also led Afrogameuses, a powerhouse association of over 800 members dedicated to the inclusion of racialized and queer women in gaming. Recognized as a GamesIndustry.biz Game Changer and a Top Leader Under 35, Jennifer is not just participating in the industry; she is actively redesigning it to be more inclusive, vibrant, and narratively rich.

Hi there! I’m Jeremiah, a creative programmer and Digital Media Master's student in Atlanta. I currently study @Georgia Tech, where I focus on game design and analysis, interactive systems, and experimental approaches to interaction and meaning-making in digital media. My work often sits at the intersection of code, play, and theory, blending technical systems with expressive and speculative design. I build interactive experiences across games, creative coding projects, and mobile apps—often exploring mechanics as arguments and systems that shape player behavior and interpretation. Outside of school and work, I enjoy songwriting on my guitar, playing video games, exploring digital art, and getting lost in a good book.

Jesse Schell is the founder and CEO of Schell Games, a leading game development studio behind award-winning titles like Among Us 3D, I Expect You To Die, and Happy Atoms. He is also Distinguished Professor of the Practice of Entertainment Technology at Carnegie Mellon University and the author of The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses. A former Disney Imagineer and chair of the IGDA, Jesse is widely recognized for his contributions to both educational and entertainment games, and for his visionary insights into the future of interactive technology.

John Ristevski is the Chairman of the Board and CEO of CyArk. John is formerly the Vice President of Reality Capture and Processing at Nokia’s mapping company, HERE, where he led the company’s initiative to index reality. John joined HERE in 2012 through the acquisition of his company, earthmine, which developed systems to capture and deliver highly accurate street level imagery and 3D data of cities. John is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and currently serves on the board of the non-profit CyArk. He has lectured at Stanford's Civil and Environmental Engineering Department and has a Master of Science degree from the University of California at Berkeley and degrees from the University of Melbourne in both Geomatic Engineering and Law.

Jonah works with and coordinates various multidisciplinary teams to deliver high-quality games, animation, and more to FableVision partners. Jonah has a background in game production, with a bachelor’s degree in Game Design from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He also studied early childhood development and psychology, and has marketing and project management experience in a variety of fields. Outside of the studio, Jonah enjoys designing games, watching and playing sports, and discovering new obsessions, such as world geography, documentary films, and aquascaping.

I'm an aspiring game developer at Georgia Tech who is most interested in the systems side of games and how mechanics feel in the player's hands. A lot of my work so far has centered around Unity and C#, where I've focused on building gameplay loops, interaction systems, and mechanics that are easy to understand but still satisfying to use.

JunHee Lee is a Professor at the School of Art, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), and Chapter Head of Games for Change Korea. His work explores game systems, interactive storytelling, and social-impact design, with recent projects including location-based entertainment for urban development, educational games for cancer patients, and games developed with the UN World Food Programme (WFP). At G4C 2026, he will propose a Games for Change-certified curriculum framework for teaching impact games in higher education.

In addition to being a lifelong gamer, Justin is a nonprofit and public sector professional at the NYC Department of Youth & Community Development, where he works on the Youth Count initiative, a citywide effort tracking and analyzing youth housing instability to inform services and policy. He has worked across NYC nonprofits supporting LGBTQ+ youth, with experience in crisis intervention, shelter operations, and program coordination. Most importantly, he is a proud AMC A-List member.

KB is an educator, writer, and creator of games about vaginas, including the award-winning (val)iant: or, val's guide to having a broken vag. In her creative work and research, KB explores how games and play facilitate learning about relationships, intimacy, sexual health, consent, and more.

Katelyn Gumagay is a rising third-year student at Georgia Tech majoring in Computational Media. She is interested in interactive media and how technology can reimagine experiences in health and education. She currently works as a designer and undergraduate researcher for TokenVerse, an educational game focused on understanding large language models.

Dr. Karen (Kat) Schrier is Full Professor and Director of Games & Emerging Media at Marist University. A game designer who has worked at the World Health Organization (WHO), Nickelodeon, and Scholastic, she has over 100 publications, like We the Gamers and Knowledge Games and recently completed a Fulbright in Tunisia. Dr. Schrier is also the founder of PlatyPlay, LLC, and Chief Learning Officer of Dream Interaction Design. See more at https://www.linkedin.com/in/katschrier/.

Kellian Adams Pletcher is the Director of GLAM Innovation at FableVision Studios in Boston. As an educator, writer, award-winning game designer and specialist in museum games and interactives, Kellian has created hundreds of projects in museum and cultural institutions. Kellian is the author of Building Museum Games (Bloomsbury, 2026) as well as articles in the Journal of Play and AMA's Exhibition Journal Journal. Her original immersive creations include Club Drosselmeyer and the Cthulhu Luau.

Kellie Lu is an award-nominated positive impact game designer and game writer. They design all genres of games end-to-end in small teams. In collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders, they've created games about STEM, humanities, civics, and more. For fun, Kellie leads a games-as-art analysis club, enjoys leading playful martial arts experiences, and cooks.

Lacey J. Hilliard is an Associate Professor in Psychology at Suffolk University and director of the Social Development & Social Issues Lab. Her research explores how families, schools, and media shape children's and adolescents' understanding of identity, equity, and social issues. She partners with educators and communities to evaluate media and practices that center student voice and support young people's belonging and well-being.

Laurence is a Partner at Lux Capital, where he co-leads the research team and creates media, experiences, and riskgaming scenarios that prepare today's leaders for tomorrow's crises at the intersection of science, technology, and public policy. He previously served as Director of Speechwriting for the U.S. Ambassador to the UN and was a Moynihan Public Scholar at the City College of New York, where he remains a visiting fellow.

Lien B. Tran is an Associate Professor and Chair of game design at DePaul University. She is director of Matters at Play, a transdisciplinary design lab partnering in the creation of interactive advocacy solutions for positive social transformations. She is an award-winning designer who has serious fun teaching how to distill real-world complexity into engaging interactive systems. Her collaboration partners include Full Spectrum Features, Open Society Foundations, and the World Bank.

Lily is a producer based in Vancouver, specializing in User experience design and player-centered product development. Leveraging the experience from EA Sports and Tencent Mobile; she has led features end-to-end across cross-functional teams, with a focus on building intuitive, inclusive systems that help players engage more seamlessly with interactive experiences. Her work sits at the intersection of design strategy and execution , translating creative vision into shipped product.

Professor Lindsay Grace, PhD, MFA, is an award-winning game designer and author of 3 books including, Doing Things with Games, Social Impact Through Play. He is a leading voice in social impact games, publishing more than 100 peer-reviewed research articles, He’s lead multiple game design programs, published independent games, at more than 150 events internationally. As a leader in the field, he has held key roles shaping the future of games for change through research, design, and advocacy.

Lucy is known as one of the "OG" investors in the UAE. She is focused on the innovation space, both in terms of supporting founders and as an investor. Her recently published book, "Changing The Game", highlights the importance of digital technologies, in sectors such as gaming and its relevance to the future of work. Lucy is an advocate and capacity builder focused on digital transformation. She is an Ambassador for Women In Games (WIGJ), Advisory Board member for HER Sports Summit and is an Honoree of The Listed, which spotlights the technologies and leaders reshaping sport’s future.

Dr. Lynn Fiellin is a Professor of Biomedical Data Science at Dartmouth College. Sixteen years ago and inspired by her then 3 teenaged children, she founded the play2PREVENT Lab where she and her team of behavioral and medical scientists, adolescent and community partners, and serious game developers have developed and evaluated digital health games to address adolescent mental health and substance misuse. She also founded Playbl, a sister organization to her Lab, that holds the promise of getting these effective and engaging digital health games into the hands of adolescents broadly.

Lyra performs and produces immersive experiences that dissolve empathic barriers. Recent credits include the international tour of hyper-intimate “Undersigned” (Underbelly, Edinburgh Fringe), and interactive ghost story “Molly Went Missing” (La Jolla Playhouse). Lyra executes ambitious visions with a diverse background in circus, theatre, and mechanical engineering. She joins fantasy to reality, revealing guest agency in worlds with consequences - ones in which our actions matter. www.lyralev.in

Maria Tamellini is an award-winning social impact entrepreneur working at the intersection of trust & safety, technology, and community health in games. She is the Co-Founder of GamerSafer, a company innovating in cross-platform identity and verification technology to strengthen player accountability, and she also leads Minehut, the largest independent Minecraft server network in the world. Maria is a Minecraft Safety Council Advisor and a driving force behind community-led initiatives like the Minecraft Official Server List and the DefenderNet Initiative. She collaborates with organizations including the Thriving in Games Group, Common Sense Media, ECPAT International, Take This, WeProtect Global Alliance, and Stanford’s Reach Lab.

Mathias Gredal Nørvig, CEO of SYBO Mathias is CEO of SYBO, the studio behind Subway Surfers, and a leading voice on gaming’s role in global change. A co-founder of the Playing for the Planet Alliance and the Sustainable Games Alliance, he combines creative industry leadership with a passion for climate, energy, and nutrition. Mathias co-authored “Gaming for Good” and advises on the intersection of gaming, culture, and sustainability.

Meghan is the founder of CulturaConnector.com, a 501(c)3 non-profit NGO dedicated to Cultural Identity, Storytelling, and Healing. She has been creating transformative games and experiences that address trauma, educate, and build bridges between people since 1999. In 2025, Meghan is an annual visiting lecturer and expert panelist at Harvard Graduate School of Education and was a guest speaker at the 80th United Nations General Assembly addressing games as a mental health intervention.

Co-founder & President of NARRATIFY, a Franco-African cultural consultancy bridging African cultures and the global games industry. Former Senior Social Impact Manager at Ubisoft (2013–2025). Winner of the 2024 Pégase Award for Person of the Year (France's leading games industry awards). Advocate for authentic African representation in games, through consulting, events and cultural workshops.

Mumtaz “Taji” Cooper is a youth advocate, civic innovator, and founder of Democraverse, a civic engagement game designed to make democracy accessible and engaging for young people. She develops interactive tools that promote legal literacy, policy awareness, and youth participation in governance. Through her work, Taji bridges technology and advocacy to empower the next generation of changemakers.

Nathan Holbert is an Associate Professor of Technology, Media, and Learning at Teachers College, Columbia University and the founder and director of the Snow Day Learning Lab. Nathan is the co-editor of the volume Designing Constructionist Futures: The Art, Theory, and Practice of Learning Designs from MIT Press, co-author of Playful Testing: Designing a Formative Assessment Game for Data Science from ETC Press, and the co-creator and cohost of Pop & Play, an award winning podcast on education, play, and pop culture.

Paige Dansinger is an XR artist and worldbuilder exploring how collective creativity can imagine better futures. She leads Remix Reef: Together to the Moon, an award-winning project from Reality Hack at MIT + XRCC's Community Hack, exhibited at UnitedXR in Brussels. She is Director of XR Women Museum and Better World Museum. At Games for Change, she invites participants to remix a reef and co-create new worlds together.

Ms. Wimberley is originally from Oklahoma and has resided in the great State of Alaska for twenty-three years. Phyllis started her professional career as a nurse in 1983, practicing for 30-plus years. She returned to school and graduated with a BS in Business Management and Ethics and began a career in Human Resources. She relocated to Anchorage in 2003 to be near family and take a position as HR Manager with Chugachmiut. She was promoted through the ranks and currently serves as Deputy Director of the organization. Ms. Wimberley recently earned a Master of Arts in Management with a Human Resources Specialization from Wayland Baptist University.

Rachel Katz is a Program Officer at Equimundo, bringing a passion for health equity. Rachel supports program design for youth and adults using evidence-based solutions for transforming harmful gender norms. Previously, Rachel worked as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Peru working on sexual and reproductive health and girls’ empowerment. Rachel received a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University. Rachel spends her free time biking around DC and trying new foods.

Rachel Kowert, Ph.D is a research psychologist, award winning author, and globally recognized leader in game and game adjacent spaces on issues relating to mental health and trust and safety. Dr. Kowert is the founder of Psychgeist, a multimedia content production studio for the intersection of science and games. She currently serves as the Researcher Director for Games for Change and is a Visiting Researcher at the University of Cambridge (UK). To learn more about Rachel and her work, visit www.rkowert.com.

Ramzy Lakos is the Digital Interpretation Designer at the Seattle Art Museum, where he uses technology to create experiences that empower visitors through playful learning and creative expression. Ramzy was born and raised in Dubai and now lives in Seattle where you can find him building musical instruments and riding his bike around the city. He is currently enrolled at NYU where he is completing a masters degree in Interactive Media Arts.

Sam Liberty’s design practice combines behavioral science, game design, playful UX, and human-centered principles. His work changes behavior and attitudes, generates data, educates and persuades, sometimes all at once. He is the Game Design Director at the Brain Game Lab at Northeastern University, designed cognitive remediation games for Click Therapeutics, and is the former Lead Game Designer at Sidekick Health, a leading DTx. Other clients include tech startups and scale-ups, the International Red Cross, World Bank Institute, United Nations, MIT Lincoln Labs, MIT Media Lab, UNICEF, World Wildlife Fund, and various government institutions and planning commissions. He is a frequent speaker at conferences such as Games For Change, Serious Play, and Gamification Europe.

Sara Cornish leads marketing for Minecraft Education, where she works to transform education, drive sustainability, and promote equity through game-based learning. Since 2017, she has helped grow Minecraft Education to reach millions of educators and learners around the world, helping teach coding and literacy, inspire girls in STEM, and engage students in critical issues like climate change and digital citizenship. Prior to joining Minecraft, Sara developed innovative campaigns, programs, and cross-sector coalitions at nonprofit Games for Change and the United Nations. Sara lives in Seattle with her family and is a firm believer in the power of play.

As Senior Vice President and General Manager, PBS KIDS and Education, Sara DeWitt is responsible for the strategic direction of the dynamic educational media service that supports children, their parents, teachers and caregivers, and local communities.

Sarah Spiers is an award-winning game producer based in Boston, MA, currently serving as Senior Game Producer for Threadbare, an open-source narrative adventure game. Previously, she held the position of Development Director at Electronic Arts, where she led the simulation team for Project Rene. Sarah's contributions to the gaming industry have earned her significant recognition, including a spot on Forbes' 30 Under 30 in Games list in 2022 and induction into Women In Games' Hall of Fame in 2021. Beyond her professional achievements, she serves on the Board for the Boston Public Library Fund and channels her creativity into writing surrealist fantasy-horror novels in her spare time.

Scot Osterweil is an MIT research scientist. Game designs inclue the Zoombinis series (math and logic), Vanished: The MIT/Smithsonian Game (environmental science), and Labyrinth (math). He President and Creative Director of Learning Games Network where he led the Gates Foundation’s Language Learning Initiative (ESL), and where he designed Quandary, 2013 Games for Change Game of the Year. He co-authored the book Resonant Games and served as the play consultant on the Amazon TV series Tumbleleaf.