As Managing Director of the Casual Games Association, Jessica Tams oversees quarterly Casual Connect Conferences around the world and publishes the Casual Connect Magazine, as well as research reports to over 20,000 industry professionals. The CGA acts as a meeting place for all facets of the casual games business through its sold-out conferences in locales like San Francisco, Amsterdam, and Kiev. Tams saw the worldwide growth of casual games across all platforms early on, having worked as vice president of product planning at FUN Technologies, a Liberty Media (LMCA) company, and helping to create Oberon Media's Seattle Studio. Tams entered the game industry as a software engineer developing PC and Xbox games like Dungeon Siege and Gabriel Knight III.

The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) is one of the leading global entities that unites game makers from every region through localized, national and global activities. Kate Edwards has spent 16 years in the game development industry, serving as Microsoft's geopolitical strategist from 1992 through 2005. She used her knowledge of the global games industry to identify geopolitical and cultural risks and opportunities for game franchises like Halo, Age of Empires, Fable, and Dance Central. She co-organized the Game Developer Conference's Localization Summit.

Kiki Wolfkill is an executive producer at Microsoft's 343 Industries game studio, which is responsible for theHalo entertainment franchise. In addition to developing Halo 4 and the upcoming Halo 5, Wolfkill has been responsible for the transmedia franchise that has spanned novels, comics, a web series, and an upcoming live-action series produced by Steven Spielberg. Wolfkill began her career as a motion graphics and cinematics artist. She previously served as director of art at Microsoft Studios, working with game developers on franchises like Forza Motorsport, Project Gotham Racing, Gears of War, and Mass Effect.

Naughty Dog has been pushing the envelope when it comes to cinematic interactive entertainment since the first Uncharted game took the game industry by storm. With each sequel, as well as the new The Last of Us, Amy Hennig has overseen everything from the performance-captured actors that bring the virtual characters to life to the rich and addictive gameplay. Hennig is a big reason that Sony has a steady stream of must-have exclusives for PlayStation from Naughty Dog. Before joining the Santa Monica-based studio in 2003, she worked at Crystal Dynamics on the Soul Reaver and Legacy of Kain titles.

As senior vice president of Maxis, Lucy Bradshaw oversees The Sims and SimCity at Electronic Arts (EA). Bradshaw has been with EA since 1997, working with Maxis founder Will Wright on bestselling franchises that attracted new females to gaming. Over half of Sims players are female. She's played a pivotal role in evolving The Sims, which has sold over 100 million copies (The Sims 4 arrives next fall). Prior to Maxis, Bradshaw worked at George Lucas's LucasArts Entertainment, overseeing the development of games like The Dig, Secret of Monkey Island 2,and Rebel Assault.

Jade Raymond heads up Ubisoft's Toronto studio, which opened in 2010 and is on track to grow to 800 employees by 2020. She's responsible for new intellectual property and is currently working on five titles. Raymond serves as executive producer of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell franchise, including games, books, and movies. She made her name in the industry as the co-creator and executive producer on the original Assassin's Creed game at Ubisoft Montreal. That game went on to become the fastest-selling new intellectual property in gaming in 20 years and has sold over 57 million copies worldwide. Having recently completed Tom Clancy'sSplinter Cell: Blacklist, she's now working on a new Assassin's Creed game (not Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag), as well as the open-world Watch Dogs game set in Chicago. The former programmer has focused on blockbuster game franchises and never looked back.