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