20 Year Retrospective Report 2023 | Page 10

Industries ). Industry professionals also serve as portfolio reviewers , guest lecture and workshop providers , Career Fair hiring recruiters , and partners for collaborative curriculum enhancement and research initiatives .
• Some of the studios and industry leaders who have presented keynote speeches and panel presentations at SMU Guildhall include , but are not limited to : John Carmack , Former CTO at Oculus VR ; Celia Hodent , Game UX Strategist and former Director of User Experience at Epic Games ; David Helgason , Partner at Transition and Founder of Unity Technologies ; Doug Lombardi , former VP of Marketing for Valve Software ; Ed Fries , General Partner at 1Up Ventures , Creator of Microsoft Game Studios , Co-Creator of the XBOX ; Garrett Young , former Business Advisor for Rising Tide Entertainment and General Manager for id Software ; Graeme Devine , CTO at QXR Studios , formerly of Magic Leap ; Sigurlina Ingvarsdottir , Founding Partner at Behold Ventures , former Producer for Bonfire Studios and Senior Producer for FIFA at EA ; Yusuke Naora , Art Director at Square Enix ; Paul Bettner , CEO / Founder of Playful & Co-Creator of Words With Friends ; Tanya Watson , Co-Founder & COO at Squanchtendo , formerly Executive Producer at Epic Games ; Gary Conti , Director of Education Relations & Industry Outreach at Rockstar Games , former Red Dead Redemption II Producer ; Michael Bosley , Guildhall alumnus and Santa Monica Studio Programmer ; Stephen Chin , Senior Gameplay Designer at Guerrilla ; Cindy Armstrong , Chief Administrative Officer at Playable Worlds ; Guido Arcella , award-winning film and game composer ; Matt Hooper , Senior Technical Program Manager Lead at Meta , former Director of Development at Oculus VR ; Fawzi Mesmar , VP Global Creative at Ubisoft ; Morgan Wilson , Lead Level Designer at Thats ’ s No Moon ; Sam Shafik , Character Animator formerly of Castleville , Bonfire Studios , and Adventure Bay ; David Savage , SMU alumnus and Senior Game Designer at Sucker Punch Productions ; alumnus John D . Brady , Cybersecurity Leader and former FlexForce Engineer at AT & T ; alumnus David Vaught , Design Lead for Collins Aerospace and former Senior UX Designer at Thomson Reuters ; alumnus Zach Stambaugh , Product Manager and former Lead Artist at PeopleFun ; and companies SideFX / Houdini , Epic Games , Santa Monica Studio , Oxide Games , members of the Borderlands 3 team ; 900lbs , Certain Affinity , MagicLeap , Microsoft , Samsung VR , Google , EA , Irrational Games , Obsidian Games , Relic , Infinity Ward , and Daybreak Studios .
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