speakers

raig “Pro Skills” Skilling is an award winning college educator, event producer, consultant and keynote speaker on all things tech, innovation, sports, entertainment, Esports, Web 3 and entrepreneurship. He is the founder of the Influencer Brand , LLC an entertainment & event consulting company who launched the Esports Pro Skills Academy as a means to more minority representation in the gaming industry. Skilling is the co-founder of BITE-CON (The Black Innovation, Technology & Entertainment) Conference which has highlighted minorities impacting the Fintech, Web 3 and digital societal shift. As an education and entertainment industry influencer Craig continues to consult on projects alongside institutions, governments, tourism boards and businesses who are ready to implement innovative programming while embracing industry best practice. Craig is driven by the success of ALL who are doing amazing things; especially those who have sat in his classroom, attended a workshop, presentation or event. He is a proud family man who advocates for diversity, equity and inclusion for youth, teens and young adults through various mentorship programs while completing his doctoral dissertation at Saint Thomas University.

As the President of Latinx in Gaming, I am responsible for running the award-winning non-profit organization that aims to empower and support Latinx professionals and gamers in the gaming industry. With over a decade in the gaming industry and 8 years in events, I have developed and executed successful event marketing strategies, campaigns, and partnerships that have grown my companies, clients & brands. I have also leveraged my skills and expertise in social networking, social media marketing, Facebook, event planning and management, live broadcasting to deliver high-quality and engaging experiences for our partners. Some of the notable partners I have worked with include Twitch, Redbull, Team Liquid, Urban Decay, Niantic, Disney, & more. I have served on the board for the International Game Developer's Association, SunSpear Games, Feminist Frequency, Games and Online Harassment Hotline, and for the Esports Awards.

Experienced esports manager with a demonstrated history of working in higher education. Accrued over $11mm in prize winnings from teams recruited and managed at the professional level. Won twenty national championships while in charge of the top college esports program in North America. Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.) and Masters of Business Administration (MBA) focused in International Business from Maryville University of Saint Louis.

Danielle is a recovering middle school teacher from Dallas, Texas. She is also a co-found and current Executive Director of the Texas Scholastic Esports Federation, a teacher-run, nonprofit esports organization serving Texas schools. As a Certified Google Innovator and Tech Coach, Danielle is working to bring Esports to K12 schools that focus on equity, inclusion, and citizenship. Danielle is passionate about designing equitable educational systems. She is a Certified Google Innovator and Coach working to bring Esports to K12 schools. Danielle wants to help schools design esports programs that focus on equity, inclusion, and citizenship. Danielle is a former host of the Esports Edu stream and podcast. She was featured in the October 2018 issue of Education Weekly and presented at ISTE in 2018 and 2019. Before teaching CTE courses, she was a digital learning coach, taught 6th grade World Cultures, 9th grade World Geography, and 11th grade U.S. History. Over her 15-year career. Danielle has a BA in journalism from Baylor University and an M.Ed. in Special Education from Texas Tech University.

A technologist, analyst, & strategist at heart, one of my true passions is helping broker technological solutions to help students, staff, & faculty across the globe engage more fully in the power of education. I also hold a long-standing love of the way gaming can connect communities & generations. I see & live the incredible value in connecting the gaming community with career & educational opportunities.

Danielle Sirekis is the Director of Esports at Florida Institute of Technology. At her former institution she built the varsity program from the ground up, focusing on creating an inclusive community space with high level competition. currently the program fields nearly 50 athletes competing across 8 titles. A graduate from Oakland University, Danielle started her career in the healthcare industry, which allows her to bring a unique and wellness focused perspective to the esports industry. She’s known for her dynamic leadership and proudly serves as a voice for underrepresented communities throughout the esports space. Danielle is a first generation collegiate graduate, and found a lot of success as a triathlete. She is driven to shifting the perception of esports athletes, and often taps into her own experiences to lead this charge. She is active in NACE - the National Association of Collegiate Esports. After serving a year on the Enforcement Eligibility Committee, and was voted to serve on the organization’s Board of Directors. Danielle served as one of the pioneers that helped bring esports to the athletic conference. As the team enters its second season of competitive play, Danielle is introducing a path-to-industry structure to provide career building opportunities to current students.

Danny Martin started making his mark on the esportsindustry during his time as a University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) student athlete studying small business management and entrepreneurship. His first gig in gaming involvedre pairing gaming equipment for his classmates with the knowledge and skill he’d gained in the infancy of esports. It wasn’t long before he recognized the financial opportunity available in organizing large-scale esports tournaments. Having built a database of gamers through friends and contacts on campus, Danny started hosting tournaments, and his first esports business, Geekletes,was born. After leaving UTSA, Danny’s career and interest in esports continued to grow. By 2015, he co-founded and self-funded his own esports organization by turning his 2,000-square-foot Downtown Dallas loft into a gaming esports arena.Today, Danny is the Co-Founder and CEO of Esposure, a global esports technology company witha proprietary Education to Entertainment (E2E) ecosystem focused on developing the next generationof esports professionals and competitive gamers. Entrepreneurship is in Danny’s DNA. His uncles ownedand managed a landscaping company, and Danny worked for them while he was in high school.Watching them operate their own business solidified Danny’s interest in being an entrepreneur.Those memories, paired with his interest in providing value to the community, have encouraged Danny to push forward in his entrepreneurial journey. In addition to mentors like his family members, professors and tech industry experts, Danny credits his ability to persevere to his days running trackin his hometown of Lancaster, Texas throughout high school and at UTSA. “Building a business is likea marathon. There are constant ups and downs, but you have to understand goal-setting, paceand milestones. You have to have the energy to keep pushing forward – enough energy to be betterthan your competitors.” He’s still on a fast track today, determined to engageand empower 20,000 students and young adults with STEM esports education and career explorationby 2025. His passion for helping others has allowed him to speak to more than 5,000 students,parents and esports enthusiasts at more than 35 events. So far, more than 250 students havecompleted the MasterClass, Esposure’s 1STEM.org Accredited course covering core principles in management, marketing, production, technology, and competition. Under Danny’s leadership as CEO, Esposure has madesignificant strides and is seeing steady growth. The company has earned over $3 million inrevenue and has grown to over 30 employees. Danny has personally mentored 14 interns and recentlybolstered the company’s capabilities in areas such as technology, production services anddesign through strategic hiring. Beyond his work with Esposure, Danny remains committed to the community, serving on the boards of Big Brothers Big Sisters Lone Star and the EsportsTrade Association. In addition, Danny began lending his expertise to a new Esports Business Managementcourse at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas in 2021, contributing curriculumfocused on esports team organization, management and recruitment.

David I. Schulman is Co-Chair of the Video Games and Esports Practice Group and a senior attorney in the firm’s Technology, Media & Telecommunications Practice. David’s practice encompasses a wide array of corporate legal services, and includes representation of publicly and privately held businesses, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and lenders in all aspects of their commercial transactions. David has wide-ranging experience in structuring and negotiating complex technology, eCommerce and telecommunications transactions, outsourcing transactions, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital financings, private equity investments, strategic alliances, and joint ventures. David also advises clients on general business law matters, including entity formation, corporate governance, capitalization issues, equity compensation strategies, employment matters, and customer and vendor contracts.

David Williams is a seasoned esports professional with over a decade of experience in the competitive gaming industry. His background spans various roles in business development, product design, tournament & league management, broadcast production, casting, coaching, team ownership, and professional gaming. Currently serving as the SVP of Esports at Esports Entertainment Group, David oversees ggCircuit, a full-service provider of software and hardware solutions for schools and retail gaming venues.

Derrek has more than 15 years of experience in a diverse set of positions working for both Fortune 500 companies and startups. Derrek held leadership roles at Nexmo (acquired by Vonage), Corvisa (acquired by ShoreTel), cofounder of SocialVolt, CenturyLink (formerly Embarq) and Sprint, where he developed a passion for sales, marketing and technology. In these roles, Derrek was responsible for developing and achieving strategic business objectives for each corporation.

Doug is a passionate educator, leader, designer, writer, and speaker. He currently serves as National Esports Manager at CDW Education, a Fortune 500 IT Solutions company. Doug focuses on acting as a connecting point between people, ideas, and solutions. On his education journey, he has served in both urban and suburban school districts as a teacher, administrator, district instructional tech leader, state edtech organization leader, and at CDW as an education strategist. You can find his work in EdTech Magazine, Edutopia, ASCD, Tech and Learning, eSchool News, or his web series and podcast, Focus on K-12: EdTech and the Education Experience.

Jacobson learned game design in the golden age of the videogame arcade. After work in LA, NY and DC, he came to Atlanta to build a game studio for Ted Turner. In 2001, Jacobson pivoted from entertainment to learning. He founded GamesThatWork - dedicated to games that shape real-world behavior. In these games, kindergarteners brush their teeth, CIA agents avoid psychological traps, entrepreneurs build markets, Army captains influence society, aerospace engineers avoid screw-ups, travelers hear voices in tribal lands. The US Education Department, the ESA, the National Academy of Medicine, and many others have honored his games. His full-scale arcade game: Mike Builds a Shelter is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, where it is now playable by 2 million visitors a year.. Jacobson's secret sauce is a lust for turning new technologies into new player experiences. In recent years, he's been exploring the potential of AI in game making and game play. He has led lively AI/Game workshops in the US, Canada and Ireland. See dov.jacobson.net

Boise State | Clin. Assoc Professor, Head Coach, Esports | 2020 Coach of the Year | 2020 Dir. Year | 2021 Esports Award winner | husband, dad, & “Dampa” of 4

Forward-thinking Innovation Leader with extensive management expertise in medical devices, medical device Start-Ups, Innovation incubators, Healthcare and Hospital management, Business Development, Strategic Planning, Clinical Development and Medical Affairs. Recognized for: • Achieving device registration with FDA and EMA • Spearheading early innovation and device development • Identifying and advising on investment opportunities within biotechnology • Negotiating the healthcare hospital matrices • Identifying partnerships between hospitals and vendors in the biotech space • Advocating for patient health via legislative and collegial support, communicating science effective to various publics, and gaining industry acceptance • Leading the Office of Innovation • Instituting Feasibility program • Creating and Leading an Imaging Core Lab • Formulating all Core Lab financial bids • Reviewing NDAs • Providing Growth and Strategic Trajectory to all research disciplines • Leading robust clinical development programs to innovate scientific platforms and create novel compounds and devices • Developing Strategic Analyses • Instituting initiatives to gain and increase physician/association support • Creating commercialization and licensing strategies including brand positioning, product scaling, and risk mitigation • Vetting new inventions • Chairing the CEC (Clinical Endpoints Committees) • Authoring IP (Intellectual Property) Policies • Lecturing and serving on panels for Innovation/Biotech/Healthcare • Expanding indications via Phase IV trials, Investigator Initiated Studies, and Healthcare • Leading robust medical affairs, clinical, and commercial programs to create scientific platforms, support novel compounds and devices, and develop and execute brand strategies • Building trust, collaboration, and sustaining relationships with Inventors, Investors, Medical colleagues, Regulatory, and Legal to enhance company’s scientific reputation and support Sponsor’s goals

Dr. Joey Gawrysiak is the Executive Director of Esports at Syracuse University. A former competitive gamer in college, Dr. G started the esports competitive teams in 2018 at Shenandoah University. He wrote one of the first esports curricula in the world with academic programs and certifications across the field of esports at the undergraduate and graduate levels of study. In 2019, Gawrysiak co-founded EDGE consulting with two partners to consult professional and academic entities on a variety of esports implementation strategies. He currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors for the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) as well as the Board of Advisors for the North American Scholastic Esports Federation, while also being named the NACE Program Director of the year in 2021 and NACE Hero in 2022. Gawrysiak has written several articles and book chapters on esports as well as providing professional development for students working in event management, broadcast production, and social media marketing.

Lisa Share, Ph.D., is a Student Support Specialist in Forsyth County. Previously, she has been a teacher, administer, and university director. Dr. Share has created a middle school eteam at two middle schools within the district, and supports students and teachers will implementing a program. Her goal is to help students become positive gamers and role models for other students. At the university, she created a game based live simulations for student teachers.

Dr. Pavan Patel is a dual board-certified neurologist specializing in Neurology and Brain Injury Medicine. He treats concussion, headache, and brain injury patients through his independent practice, Clear Path Neurology, and applies that clinical background to performance neurology — building frameworks that bring objective, hardware-based measurement of reaction time, CNS fatigue, and autonomic recovery to esports and competitive gaming. He's currently developing pilot programs with esports organizations and collegiate esports programs applying this approach

Dustin Pyles stands at the helm of VAZA Consulting as its CEO/ Managing Consultant, where his expertise in education policy and strategic grant acquisition has led to the procurement of nearly $700 million total in funding to date. His acumen in cultivating partnerships is pivotal in advancing STEM education, as well as spearheading other cutting-edge workforce initiatives through adept policy and funding advocacy. Established as a 'Dot Connector,' Pyles excels in orchestrating collaborations that not only elevate scholastic esports but also integrate it with STEM curricula, thereby equipping both young people and adults with the critical, in-demand workforce competencies required to be competitive for tomorrow’s job market. At the summit, Pyles is poised to impart valuable strategic insights to enhance the educational impact of esports and to share best practices for securing strategic funding, grants, and investments that are fundamental to nurturing innovative projects and initiatives.

Dylan Goldblatt leads AI strategy at Kennesaw State University and works with large language models to support academic R&D. Before his current role, Dylan worked as a foundation models researcher supported by Microsoft and OpenAI. He is an applied researcher who builds software, 3D worlds, and moving images. He is currently developing a recommendation system to interpret player feelings to support the discovery of emotionally resonant content. Dylan experiments with AR and VR on Apple Vision Pro, is developing prototypes with gaussian splatting at KSU. He is a lifelong academic who earned a PhD from the University of Virginia. His areas of expertise include cognitive linguistics, language models, and human-computer interfaces. Previously, Dylan presented his work on interactive digital narrative at MIT. Nowadays he spends most of his time developing projects that change how people create, share, and develop ideas. His favorite games include Perfect Dark, Splatoon, Super Meat Boy, Red Alert, Gone Home, and Super Mario Sunshine.

An accomplished and proven broadcast and Esports production professional that is skilled in managing people and planning. Oversee the production workflow and manage communication with an extensive understanding of broadcasting. Covers event operations logistics including line technical directing and camera operations. Holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration. Acknowledged for bringing cross-functional teams together to achieve a common goal.

Field-experienced esports adviser, advocate and educator. Seasoned marketing operations executive and entrepreneur involved with successful IPO and global acquisition activities.

Emily Gates is a second-year student majoring in Esports Communications and Management at Syracuse University. She serves as the Manager for both Varsity Rocket League teams and works as a Content Assistant within the program. In addition to her role in esports, she interns in the Marketing and Fan Experience department for Syracuse University Athletics, focusing on Volleyball. Emily is originally from Albany, New York.