With a background as a former partner with industry giants like Mixer, Discord, Nitrado, and Streamloots, Ash leverages her expertise in building safe and inclusive communities. Her fascination with gaming dates back to her toddler years. This early spark ignited a lifelong passion for gaming and technology, fueling her dedication to creating vibrant and welcoming communities for gamers of all backgrounds.

Born and raised in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Tommy Truelsen is a Community Relations Manager with SciPlay, a leading mobile games company with studios around the world. SciPlay’s games are played by millions every month. A musician and theater aficionado, Tommy uses his artistic experiences to think outside of the box in finding ways to better understand his players and create engaging opportunities to build in their retention.

With a pedigree in musical and dramatic theater, DB has been acting and directing for more than 30 years. You’ve heard DB in Bioshock 2, Shadowverse, DC Universe Online, Hearthstone, Job Simulator, and dozens of creatures in Monster Train 1&2. DB was VO Supervisor for ZeniMax Online Studios; casting/directing 13 projects for The Elder Scrolls Online. DB is a vocal archetype, creature sound, and video game combat consultant, teaching people how to take bullets, howl in agony, and die since 2007.

Spencer Everhart is a game designer and academic based in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. He holds a BFA in Game Design from the Cleveland Institute of Art and is currently working toward an MFA in Visual Communication Design at Kent State University. A jack of all trades, his interests lie in understanding the relationship between games and their players and how to create deeply meaningful experiences that players bring with them after the game ends. He specializes in user experience, accessibility, and rapid game prototyping.

A Senior Interactive Media Developer in the IT Research & Innovation division at Nationwide Children's Hospital with over 15 years of full stack development experience ranging from desktop applications and web apps to mobile games and interactive media. Nearly half his career has been dedicated to bringing innovation to healthcare providers in central Ohio.

Child Life Manager - Family & Volunteer Services Karen has been a certified child life specialist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital for 22 years, supporting children and families coping with hospitalization and healthcare experiences. In addition to being a certified child life specialist, she is also a licensed professional counselor. Karen’s clinical experience has always focused on providing emotionally safe, developmentally appropriate, family centered care. She has experience working in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Hospice and Palliative Care, Sibling Clubhouse, Radiology, Surgery Unit and treatment foster care. She currently is the manager of the Child Life Program which consists of Child Life Specialists, Coordinators for Creative Engagement, a Resource Coordinator, and a Gaming Technology Specialist.

I am an audio professional with over 15 years of experience in sound and recording, and I have a passion for game sound and technical audio implementation.

Chair of IGDA Indianapolis, professor at Ball State University, and alt control games nerd.

I am a software engineer that has been learning game development since 2020, alongside the development of my game The Boundary Condition. I'm a very technical person but also really want to make things that are grounded and accessible enough to appeal to most people.

I am a composer for video games based out of Columbus, OH. I have been active in COGG for about 2-3 years and have been attending GDEX since 2022. I am an avid gamer, a father of 2 (almost 3), and have been working as a composer for about 5 years.

I'm an award-winning narrator and have been a working voice actor for the last eight years. Recently I've voiced characters in King Arthur Legion IX, Stream or Die, and The Operator (Pegasus Award winner). When I'm not voicing game characters I'm narrating audiobooks or commercials, or creating characters for animation, short films, and audiodramas. I produce audio from my home studio in Columbus, OH and enjoy using my theater and voice acting experience to help others learn the craft. I've given this workshop several times and love helping people find their game character voices!

Unity Developer at Teleqo Technical Solutions. Co Founder Dream Distillery Games. I’m a professional Unity developer in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) sector.