Mentors and Advisors
Mentors
The goal of mentorship programming is to provide the GDFL game developers or startups with the knowledge, skills, and support they need to grow and succeed in the competitive and rapidly evolving digital game industry.
Ahmed Ansari
Industry Assistant Professor, Integrated Design and Media, NYU Tandon
Ney Castro
Vice President, Web3 Gaming, Swanston Labs
Hamna Faisal
Head of Partnerships & Asst. Community Manager at Indie Game Academy. Community Manager at Gumbo.
Yi Gong
VP of Growth, Tilting Point
Vadim Gordin
Director, Tandon Future Labs A/X Venture Studio
Yuichi Haga
Game Enthusiast
Jenna Hanlon
Strategic Partnerships, Netflix Games
Masaya Heywood
Co-Founder & Business Developer, Outfox Games
Yohei Ishii
Investor, Makers Fund
Henrik Jonsson
Game Industry Growth Consultant
Regine Gilbert
James Weldon Johnson Professor, NYU Tandon School of Engineering, Integrated Design and Media ,Faculty, NYU Ability Project
David Hohusen
CEO & Co-Founder, Riftweaver
Erik Kovac
Partner & Head of Marketing, TILT Games
Jie Li
VC & Accelerator, Pre-seed & Seed, Director, Lair East Labs
Nicholas O'Brien
Founder, Essay Games
David Or
VP of Product Engineering, Games and Platforms, Arkadium
Damon Packwood
Creator, Executive Director, Gameheads
David Parisi
Dibner Family Chair in the History & Philosophy of Technology & Science Department of Technology, Culture & Society, NYU Tandon
Scott Prather
Game Industry Business and Design Consultant
Katharina Schmidt
Senior Business Development Manager, Rovio, part of SEGA Group
Alex Takei
Studio Business Director and Producer, Ruckus Games and Show Host, Naavik Gaming Podcast
Julian Togelius
Associate Professor, Computer Science and Engineering, Co-founder and Research Director, modl.ai
Jackie Vecchitto
Co-Owner, Holy Wow Studios
Pim de Witte
Founder, CEO, Medal
Joseph Zaarour
A Founder & CEO, iSolvRisk
Advisory Board
Composed of industry leaders, our Advisory Board brings strategic and expert knowledge to the programming and trajectory of the GDFL cohorts.
Jane Chen
SVP, Integrated Marketing at Live Nation Entertainment
Matthew Cohen
Agent, Creative Artists Agency
Ellen Flaherty
Director of Learning, Ecosystem & Growth, Unity Technologies
Rowan Hajaj
Head of Finance & Corporate Development, Rockstar Games
Yohei Ishii
Investor, Makers Fund
Troy Kirwin
Partner at Andreessen Horowitz
James Lewis
Director, Developer Acceleration Program, ID@Xbox
Matthew Lucero
Head of Brand and Product Marketing, BuckLabs - formerly NYXL
Dennis Morgan
CCO & Founder, Harlem CoLab
Krysti Pryde
Executive Director Playcrafting
Jessica Rovello
Founder & Executive Chair Arkadium
Deepa Sen
Senior Director of Brand Management, Electronic Arts
Caden Stobart
Chief People Officer / Head of Operations / Founder
André Swanston
Chairman, Swanston Labs
Alex Takei
Studio Business Director and Producer, Ruckus Games and Show Host, Naavik Gaming Podcast
Jaye Watts
Founder, CEO, Coexist Gaming, Inc
Michael Worosz
Chief Strategy Officer, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.
Yiyi Zhang
Founder Women in Games NYC, Community + PR Manager Heart Machine, Inc., Vice President Arcade Commons