CTO
Terra Virtua

Kish Hirani is the CTO of Terra Virtua, an entertainment-focussed VR world
combining Netflix-style subscriptions for VR games with all assets and transactions
secured on the blockchain.

He started in the video games industry in 1996 as a programmer the after day after graduating with a Masters from Edinburgh University, moving to technical leadership roles at notable development studios and publisher houses (Acclaim, BBC Multimedia, THQ) for the first half in the industry. He then moved over to platform-holders starting with Microsoft and soon after to Sony as
their Head of Developer Services, running the PlayStation developer technology services
division.

He has also been the Chair of BAME in Games and a Board member of Women in Games, voluntary positions for two advocacy orgs that exists to encourage more diverse talent working in the games and the wider entertainment industry.

He has recently been listed as the Top 100 Asian Stars in UK Tech by Diversity UK.

Marketing Director
Curve Digital

A popular industry marketing veteran with over 17 years’ experience holding key positions in Eidos, Novalogic, Warner Bros and, most recently, Sony PlayStation, Rosemary has worked on a number of groundbreaking campaigns, including Batman Arkham City, PlayStation®4, LEGO Batman and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. Her creativity, strategic planning, leadership and events work has earned Rosemary multiple industry accolades including the MCV Special Recognition Award. She was also recognised as one of the Top 30 Women in Games.

HR Manager
Frontier Developments

Thad Frogley
Director of Engineering
Boss Alien

Emma Turner
Head of HR
Outplay Entertainment

With over 15 years’ experience in the games industry, Emma leads in all areas of talent management at Outplay. Over the last 9 years, she has helped Outplay Entertainment transform into the UK’s largest independent mobile gaming studio, developing a creative and progressive culture for the studio to thrive within and assembled a  large and diverse team of the industry’s top talent.

Senior Recruiter
Wargaming

Head of Launchpad Programme
Falmouth Launchpad

Adam Campbell
Managing Games
Azoomee

Managing Games at Azoomee, Vice Chair at BAME in Games and member of BAFTA, Adam is an industry pro with a career spanning nearly a decade.

Director
Mimram Media

Vice President
Rhum

Dana Ramnarine is VP of Rhum, a disruptive HR & Talent Consultancy helping some of the industry’s most innovative companies grow around the globe. She spent almost 15 years hiring for some the world’s most innovative creative tech companies, including Disney, Unity Technologies and Electronic Arts exploring innovative and effective tools to find, attract, and retain incredible people. An advocate for gender equality and diversity in games, Dana continues to collaborate with HR leaders to build programs and strategies to promote a culture of belonging and innovation.

Tamsin O’Luanaigh
Co Sec & Talent Director
nDreams

Tamsin O’Luanaigh is co-founder and Talent Director of nDreams, an award-winning virtual reality studio, dedicated to high-end games and experiences.

With a strong background in running support teams for tech companies, Tamsin (alongside Patrick O’Luanaigh) set up nDreams in 2006. Together they have grown the company in to one of the world’s leading VR specialists with over 70 full-time studio staff. Tamsin oversees a number of areas of the business including Company Secretarial; HR; Recruitment and Operations, her focus is firmly on the people, process and culture of the company.

As a passionate champion for diversity and inclusivity on a wider industry scale, Tamsin was recently named as one of GI.biz 100 Women in Games and is involved with G into Gaming (winning their inaugural Diversity Award in 2018).

She is also a proud mum of two, a Limit Break Mentor, a Trustee of Into Games and an Ambassador for Autistica Play.

Director of People & Operations
Creative England

Caroline Hinds is the People & Ops Director at Creative England – an organisation which invests in and supports creative ideas, talent and businesses in film, TV, games and digital media. People development and searching for the best creative talent is her passion along with keeping the business operations ticking over. Working with people across film, games, digital, partnerships, marketing and policy gives her the insight to identify any unsung heroes and lead on any talent development.

Prior to Creative England, Caroline was the Head of HR of North West Vision;  a regional screen agency which developed and promoted games, film and TV in the North West. Having started her HR career at the NHS, her experience spans across the public and creative sectors. Caroline takes pride in being a trusted decision maker when it comes to seeking talent, understanding and championing diversity.

Nick Duncombe
Head of Recruitment
Playground Games

Nick Duncombe leads the Recruitment function at Playground Games, an XBOX Game Studio and one of the UK’s most pre-eminent AAA developers. Nick joined Playground in 2015 during the development of Forza Horizon 3 and has helped the studio grow to over 250 employees.

Since joining Playground Games Nick has been responsible for hiring the best video game developers from around the world and most recently the recruitment drive for Playground Games second AAA studio who are developing Fable, a new beginning for the legendary franchise

Ed Perkins
Director of Mobile Publishing
Square Enix

I’ve been in the games industry for over ten years now, having worked on AAA console, web and mobile on both the development and publishing sides.  I currently head up mobile publishing for Square Enix, and alongside building a new team and games I’ve been pushing hard on diversity, charity and wellbeing initiatives externally and internally, starting Pride support at the company three years ago.

Ian Goodall
Managing Director
Aardvark Swift

Ian entered the industry as a consultant for Aardvark Swift at the turn of the century and hasn’t looked back since. Since becoming Managing Director in 2010, Ian has revamped Aardvark Swift into the award-winning, industry leading video game recruitment agency that it is today.

With a passion for developing the UK’s graduate talent, Ian founded the Grads in Games initiative which aims to strengthen links between academia and industry. The initiative’s Search for a Star challenges recently hosted over 1000 students who signed up to develop games and game-ready assets, alongside over 30 studios who signed up to support the initiative.

Emma Smith

Head of Talent

Creative Assembly

Account Manager
Games Jobs Direct