Game Developers Conference is poised to have a fantastic year in 2022, and things are kicking off with the addition of new members to the Advisory Board.
Organizers are proud to welcome three new board members—game designer Liz England, Finji CEO Rebekah Saltsman, and System Era director of production Veronica Peshterianu. They join dozens of designers, researchers, media professionals, and more in ensuring the continued success of Game Developers Conference.
The GDC Advisory Board is comprised of outstanding game industry professionals and experts who will help build the GDC conference program for 2022 and beyond. Here are the latest members to come aboard:
Liz England, Game Designer, Independent
Liz England is a game designer specializing in systems design. She's worked on a wide variety of games such as Scribblenauts, Sunset Overdrive, and, most recently, Watch Dogs Legion, focusing on areas like AI simulation, procedural generation techniques, and the intersection of game design and narrative.
Rebekah Saltsman, CEO, Finji
Rebekah is the CEO and co-founder of Finji, an independent development studio and publisher. Finji has published several award-winning indie games including Canabalt, Night in the Woods, Wilmot's Warehouse, Overland, and Chicory: A Colorful Tale, and are currently hard at work supporting Andrew Shouldice's 'Tunic', Sarah Northway's I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, and the unannounced title from The Glory Society. Rebekah is a co-designer on Finji's original game development projects and manages all of the console and storefront relationships and marketing initiatives for Finji's internal and partner publishing projects.
Rebekah's career began in media relations before working as a technical writer and product manager in the photography software industry. She moved into games in 2008 with the support of her husband and Finji co-founder, Adam, and she managed the finances and porting partnerships for Semi Secret Software. Rebekah loves to write, run long distances, and spend as much time as possible at Lake Michigan every summer with her and Adam's two beautiful chaotic boys.
Veronica Peshterianu, Director of Production, System Era
Veronica is a production leader who has worked on dozens of games and media projects including hit franchises like Plants vs. Zombies, Halo, and The Sims. She is a champion of collaboration, creativity, and thrives on helping teams deliver the best possible player experience. She has a background in computer science, performance studies, and digital media with a particular focus on co-operative player experiences. In her day job, Veronica is the Director of Production at System Era in Seattle, WA, working on the science fiction adventure game Astroneer.
Outside of work, Veronica enjoys giving back to the games industry by mentoring producers, knowledge sharing with colleagues, and speaking to student groups about pursuing careers in STEM and video games.
Together, these new members will assist the GDC Advisory Board in ensuring that the quality of content at GDC 2022 is relevant, interesting, timely, and suited to serve game industry professionals in all corners of the market and all stages of their career.
Also, reminder that GDC 2022 is accepting submissions through August 31, 2021 at 11:59pm PT to present lectures, roundtables, and panels for the Core Concepts part of the event, which runs Wednesday through Friday of GDC week.
For more information on GDC, be sure to visit our website or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or RSS.
