Gordon Bellamy hired as Acting Executive Director

It is my great pleasure to announce that the IGDA has hired Gordon Bellamy as Acting Executive Director. Gordon has been on the Board of Directors since 2009, and has served as chair since March of this year. He replaces our exiting ED, Joshua Caulfield. At a Special Meeting of the Board last week I was also elected as the new Chair of the Board of Directors.

In the past year I have seen first hand the amount of passion, energy and dedication that Gordon brings to his work with the IGDA, and as Acting Executive Director I am confident that he will help lead us through the changes we as an organization have to make to better serve our members, and the industry as a whole.

Gordon’s background makes him very well suited for this role. In addition to his time working with MTV Networks, EA, THQ and Z-AXIS he was also previously the Executive Director for AIAS. This broad base of experience means Gordon has a solid understanding of many different facets of the industry from publishing, to development to broader industry awareness.

For my own part, I am very excited to step into this new role of serving our organization. I have been volunteering for the IGDA since 2000. I was chair of the Online Games SIG, co-founded the Casual Games SIG, and I have written and edited numerous white papers along the way. I have also helped lead local chapters in Colorado and Ottawa, and participated with the NYC chapter when I lived there. I was appointed to a two year term on the Board in October 2009 and have served as Secretary since March of this year. I am also on the Board of the IGDA Foundation.

As a developer I have been working in the casual game space since 1999 (long before we called it casual games!) and last year I founded my own indie iPhone and next-gen mobile studio.

I have always believed in the core mission and values of the IGDA, and I love working with all the other people in the industry helping turn these things into a reality. We are an organization built upon the work of volunteers who give immeasurable contributions for the good of the industry. These volunteers are the true heart and soul of the IGDA and their contributions are what makes the IGDA a reality.

For the past several months the IGDA Board has been enacting several changes which will have a long-lasting effects on how we serve our members. Much of this was started in the spring when we established several new committees to focus on specific areas. In addition to their focus, these committees also include many non-board members, with a special emphasis on ensuring international representation as well.

You should expect to see more changes like this from us in the coming months as we continue to transition to a structure that can better serve all of our members. We have some very exciting things happening and I look forward to working with all of you to continue improving the craft of game development, and the lives of game developers.

You can email Gordon at gordon – at – igda.org or myself at brian – at – igda.org

–
Brian Robbins
Chair, IGDA Board of Directors

IGDA Partnership with GDC Europe

Gordon Bellamy here. We are proud to share that we are continuing and improving our long standing partnership with Think Services for the upcoming GDC Europe event in Cologne Germany , August 17th – 19th, 2009.

GDC Europe provides a great opportunity for our SIGs and Chapters to convene, learn and share game knowledge and experiences this summer.

Thanks to the collaboration and guidance from our chapter leaders and SIG leaders across the globe, we will have an on-site IGDA meeting room for the entire event, whose schedule for Chapter and SIG get togethers will be scheduled and listed in the GDC Europe program.

There is a 10% Discount for all IGDA Members… so be sure to send people to

http://www.igda.org/join because this discount ALONE more than covers their annual membership.

Details to follow from the SIG and Chapter leaders.

http://www.igda.org/chapters/

http://www.igda.org/SIGs/

to learn more about your respective Chapters and SIGs of interest and what their GDC Europe specific plans may be in the weeks ahead.

And IGDA is also of course a key contributor to the show’s content. We will highlight key talks by IGDA members in the weeks ahead as well.

IGDA Members receive a 10% discount off of Main Conference and All Access Passes when they register with code: GDCEIGDA

Register before the end of early registration (7/29) and save even more.

any questions/suggestions are encouraged and appreciated. . . gordon@igda.org