Kim Belair is the lead and co-founder of Sweet Baby Inc, a narrative development company based in Montreal. Part of the games industry since 2013, she's worked on projects including Sable, Alan Wake II, Spider-Man 2, South of Midnight, Wu-Tang: Rise of the Deceiver, and many more. Beyond her narrative work, Kim is an advocate for more resonant representation in games, and for generally making things better for workers in an often unfair industry.

From 2004-2023, Michael Schmalz was the president of Digital Extremes Ltd., a London,
Ontario based videogame developer for Nintendo, Xbox, Playstation and PC. Digital
Extremes is a pioneer in the videogame industry having worked on some of most popular first-person action franchises including BioShock, Halo and Unreal. DE's most recent game, Warframe, a digitally distributed, original I.P. has attracted more than 80 million users since its launch in 2013 and has become one of the most successful Free-to-Play PC-Console action-adventure games in the industry.

Over the past twenty years, Dr. Schmalz worked with government and other game industry leaders to help develop programs to help promote the video game industry locally, provincially and internationally. Dr. Schmalz has been honored as the Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year in Entertainment and Media and received the TechAlliance Tech Visionary award as well as an honorary diploma from Fanshawe College.

Dr. Schmalz has a Ph.D. in media studies and a Masters degree in engineering science
from the University of Western Ontario to compliment an MBA from the Schulich School
of Business at York University. He is a Certified Professional Accountant, a Chartered
Director and a Licensed Professional Engineer. Michael currently serves as board Chair
of the Canada Media Fund which provides $450M of funding for Canadian television and
digital media production annually and volunteers with start-up technology companies as the Chair of TechAlliance of Southwestern Ontario.

Natalie Tin Yin Gan / 顏婷妍 (she/her) is an independent dance artist, writer, and facilitator based on the unsurrendered ancestral lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. Her practice squats at the intersection of diasporic dissonance, somatics, and technology-induced melancholy. Natalie is an award-winning Narrative Designer at sunset visitor studio, which released the critically-acclaimed 1000xRESIST. Natalie is also the Co-Artistic Director of interdisciplinary company, Hong Kong Exile, and a certified teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework®, a body-centred and trauma-aware approach to the voice.

Kaelin is a Métis writer, designer, and professional procrastinator who's spent the last decade or so wrangling story chaos into something that (usually) makes sense. He has worked on everything from AAA games to indie projects - the latter of which he finds himself currently embroiled in with his team at Studio Reset. He thinks he's funnier than he is.

Carina is the Chief Product Officer and Co-founder of Simply Sweet Games. She is a video game company founder and entrepreneur, game designer and producer with over 17 years of experience.

Her career includes philanthropy for Diversity and Equity in games, in addition to inclusive design and production, working on projects ranging from indie games to massive AAA titles. She has shipped products onto multiple platforms with renowned teams such as EA, Microsoft, and Unity, and has successfully launched games on Gen4 and Gen5 platforms.

At Simply Sweet Games, Carina leads the creative direction and production efforts, focusing on delivering polished, high-depth premium games that appeal to diverse audiences.

Presley (any pronouns) is a sound designer working and living in Edmonton, Alberta, who has been in the industry for just over 7 years. Their credits include games like Anthem (Bioware), God of War: Ragnarök (Santa Monica Studio / Sony) , and the upcoming Borderlands 4 (Gearbox). She is particularly a fan of creating audio for creatures and giving them their voices.

​Karin Weekes-West has a Master's in Journalism and has worked in editing for the past 20 years, including work on the Dragon Age and Mass Effect franchises. Karin has also worked as a cultural consultant on First Nations issues, bringing her experience as a member of the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, and served on the board for HavenCon, a queer fan convention in Austin, Texas. When not polishing prose, Karin enjoys mining for Rock and Stone in Deep Rock Galactic and rerolling 1s and 2s with her dragonborn fighter's greatsword in the family D&D game.

Muddassir Mahmood is a Co-Founder at Insert Coin Accounting, a specialized tax and strategy firm dedicated to supporting game development studios across Canada.

Beyond his expertise in tax, accounting, and audit, it’s his passion for gaming and technology that makes Insert Coin the perfect fit. When he’s not driving company success and maximizing client value, he’s leveraging his programming skills to transform Insert Coin into a streamlined, tech-forward firm.

Since 2010, Muddassir has worked with hundreds of gaming and digital media clients across Canada in various capacities, including tax filing, compliance, assurance, strategic financial consulting, and tax credit and grant preparation. His unique blend of technical skills and industry knowledge has made him a trusted advisor in the gaming community.

Kat is an RPG programmer, community leader, and staunch advocate for BIPoC voices in games. Kat stood up two intersectional advocacy groups within EA and is one of organizers responsible for the Gamers for Groceries charity streams. Two shipped games (BioWare, Full Circle) and seven years later she now lives in Montreal working remote.

Trick Weekes has written for video games for more than 20 years, including work on the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series. They were the lead writer on Dragon Age: Trespasser and Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Their novels include the Rogues of the Republic fantasy heist caper series, the young adult novel Feeder, and the tie-in work Dragon Age: The Masked Empire. Trick lives in Canada with their partner Karin, their two sons, and many rescued animals. When not writing, they practice martial arts and spend way too much time building large Lego sets.

Hedy is a Chinese-born Canadian designer who is committed to providing a platform that highlights underrepresented voices and promotes diversity in her work. She meticulously researches and studies cultures to ensure accurate and respectful representation of different traditions, avoiding superficial portrayals. Her passion for world building, narrative design, and developing visual styles complements her proficiency in visual art development.

Ali Gohar is a voice actor based in Edmonton with over a decade of experience in the industry. From his home studio, he has lent voice to major brands like Canadian Tire, Dunkin’ Donuts, Bacardi, and Spotify.
Where he truly shines is in character work. Ali brings high-intensity energy and emotion that clients say helps breathe life into every role....whether it’s for animation, video games, advertising, or educational content. 

Ali has had the pleasure of collaborating with indie game developers across the globe, as well as contributing to titles from larger studios, including Starship Troopers: Terran Command, Stumble Guys, Dune: Spice Wars, and many more.

Justine is a Filipino-Canadian artist and designer with a diverse range of creative interests and skills. Her exceptional attention to details and research enables her to add depth and meaning to the messages in her team’s projects. Her insightfulness allows her to approach topics like cultural representation in a clear, accessible way, making them easier to understand for those unfamiliar with such issues.

Mayan is a Chinese national, born in Kuwait, and raised in the American education system. His early exposure to diverse worldviews has given him a unique perspective that blends Western and Eastern viewpoints. This understanding continually informs his creative practice, as he seeks new and different perspectives to challenge his existing knowledge base. 

eileen mary holowka (they/she) is a writer, game dev, and patient advocate. They are the co-founder of the impact fund Weird Ghosts as well as the Baby Ghosts Studio Development Fund where they work to support underrepresented indie game developers. They are especially focused on changing the games industry by supporting more sustainable models, which is why they are also a member of Gamma Space Cooperative and Something We Love (the first indie game cooperative in Winnipeg). You can find them online @derangedpoetess

Luke D'Alfonsi (aka Lukey) is a creative force to be reckoned with. With a passion for gaming and XR technologies, Lukey spent their early life exploring the intersection of art, tech, and storytelling. From digital art to music and film production, Lukey has mastered a range of skills and software to bring their imagination to life. As a solo developer, they have created a slew of flat and XR experiences, pushing the boundaries of what's possible in these mediums.

Nick Hoskins is the founder of One Over Games, and recently released his debut game "Imitosis" on Steam. Nick has worked as a programmer, designer, and technical producer on various AA and indie titles, and has a degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Alberta. Nick lives in Edmonton with his rabbit Aero.

Kenzie Gordon (she/her) is a social worker, doctoral candidate, and settler scholar at the University of Alberta on Treaty 6 territory. Her research examines topics ranging from gender-based violence in video games to games education and equity issues in the game industry. She is a board member with Baby Ghosts, a non-profit peer accelerator that helps games studios led by marginalized creators transition to co-operative studio models, and the project manager for The First Three Years, a longitudinal SSHRC-funded study on the transition of games graduates from school to work.

Ahmar Rana is a games educator, co-founder of emerging Treaty Six/Edmonton-based worker-first studio The Moonmeter Collective and founder of sole proprietorship Biryani Games. As a second-generation Pakistani-American and Canadian immigrant, Ahmar takes pride in being a highly-hyphenated developer whose cultural roots and diverse life experiences infuse their artistic practice with a backbone of cross-cultural solidarity. With a background in the educational games space, and as a former educator himself, Ahmar’s work taps into the potential of games to not only teach skills, but model empathy.

Hope Docking is a game producer and QA lead based in Edmonton, co-founder of Cozy Comet Games Workers Cooperative. With credits on Dragon Age: The Veilguard and Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, she specializes in cross-team collaboration, testing strategy, and inclusive development. Hope was also an organizing member of one of Canada’s first video game worker unions (under UFCW 401), where she contributed to communications and outreach. 

​

Now that she's escaped AAA game development she's focused on ways we can build a better, more sustainable games industry together.

Jawdat Toume is a Masters Computing Science student at the University of Alberta who loves to make, talk, and play games in every sense. She has been making games and integrating herself in the game development community for the past 5 years. Primarily focusing on music and programming, Jawdat has created many games in this time.

Jawdat is the former president of the Games Den, the game development club at the University of Alberta. Jawdat has also been doing research at the University of Alberta in Game AI, with a particular interest in player experience and strategy and how they can be impacted by a game's AI.

Jawdat holds a particular interest in understanding how people are affected by their gaming experiences, and the ways that people can come together through their experiences, and is passionate about making sure that aspiring game developers are able to feel that they can also one day make their very own game.

Dave is an Indie game developer with expertise in both programming and audio production. He is the Producer at COG Studios, an indie studio founded by a group of University of Alberta students.

In addition, Dave is an AI games researcher who has worked with the Audio Games Lab and the GRAIL Lab at the University of Alberta. He is currently pursuing his Master's degree for Computing Science at the University of Alberta.

Areï Rodelys (she/her) is an independent consultant in service design and user research with over a decade of experience across cultures and continents—from Madagascar and France to Japan and Canada. She has worked on design challenges in sectors like automotive, government, and education, often drawing from game design to make systems more engaging. Outside of client work, Areï co-leads the IxDF Edmonton community, helping spread thoughtful UX thinking—one meetup at a time. She’s especially passionate about bringing human-centered design into new frontiers (games included!) and grounding creative work in what truly matters to people.

Jinting Zhao is a music producer, audio engineer, songwriter, advocate and strategist known for bridging high-level policy insight with real-world creative industries expertise. As the founder of SHE-Q Audio, she leads an award-winning national organization supporting women and non-binary talent in technical music roles, while consulting across arts, government, and the creative industries on equity, infrastructure, and funding.

Nominated as Women in Music Canada's Changemaker of the Year, she’s built a reputation for navigating complex systems, securing funding for arts projects, and developing infrastructure solutions in the creative ecosystem that actually work. Whether in a studio or a boardroom, Jinting brings sharp strategy, creative fluency, and unapologetic clarity, serving on the boards of the Polaris Music Prize and West Anthem, and the Juno Awards Producer of the Year Advisory Committee. Jinting is based in Edmonton, where she is an in-house producer and engineer at the historic Up In Arms Studios.  

Roberta is an experienced analogue game designer specialising in accessible, family friendly games. She is passionate about designing games that create compelling opportunities for learning and conversation and is very interested in the space where play and serious ideas intersect. 

Andrea is a seasoned administrative professional with nearly a decade

of expertise in operations, management, and communications. Her career

spans the non-profit, postsecondary, and healthcare sectors. Andrea played

a pivotal role in establishing the Peter Lougheed Leadership College alongside

the Rt. Hon. Kim Campbell, showcasing her strengths in program development,

leadership, and mentorship. Since joining ELIXR Simulations, Andrea has

been excited about the transformative potential of virtual reality, and she

regularly stays up to date with current trends and innovations in the technology.

When she's not exploring virtual worlds, Andrea enjoys honing

her culinary skills in the kitchen and watching horror movies.

Lauren is the Protégé Program Coordinator at Elixir.

Dr. Nathaniel Rossol is the CTO and co-founder of vrCAVE; an indie game company that specializes in multiplayer VR escape room games. After earning a PhD in Computing Science in 2015 at the University of Alberta with a focus on human-computer interaction, he was briefly an instructor at MacEwan University teaching courses on computer graphics and video games. In 2017 he co-founded vrCAVE with his brother Alex. Nathaniel currently leads the development team at vrCAVE producing even more multiplayer VR games.

 Ryan is the Head of Growth and Marketing at vrCAVE