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Keynote Speakers


Karen Wilkins-Mickey
Microsoft Corp's Diversity Staffing Program Manager, Entertainment and Devices Division

Karen Wilkins-Mickey, Microsoft Corp's Diversity Staffing Program Manager, Entertainment and Devices Division, has worked for Microsoft in a Diversity Staffing role for 2 years. She has 15 years of staffing experience and throughout her career has always had a focus on increased diversity when hiring talent for organisations.

Each year Karen coordinates and facilitates the Microsoft-sponsored Women in Gaming and Blacks in Gaming networking event at the Game Developers Conference where top professionals in the gaming industry share their experiences and update the community on the happenings in the gaming space from a diverse perspective. She serves on several Diversity Councils within and outside of Microsoft. She is the Lead for HR Diversity Leadership Team, Entertainment and Devices Diversity Leadership Council, Virtual Diversity Team council and a host of other partner councils throughout Microsoft.

Karen feels her job is most rewarding when she forms relationships through networking and sees them working at Microsoft at some point. Her greatest joy is spending time with her family and living life to the fullest.


Sharon Knight
Vice President & General Manager Europe Online
Electronic Arts

Sharon Knight, EA's Vice President and General Manager for Europe Online oversees EA's e-commerce and online strategies for the region, including digital distribution of EA properties, in-game advertising, online micro transactions and MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games).

Sharon joined EA in 2003 as Vice President, Corporate Finance at EA's headquarters in Redwood Shores, California before moving to EAUK in Chertsey as Vice President for EA's European Product Operations two years ago. She was appointed to her current position in February 2007.

Prior to joining EA, she held directorial positions in finance at GAP Inc. and KFC Corporation in the United States.

Sharon holds an MBA in Finance from Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Smith College in the US.


Alice Taylor
Vice President, Digital Content
BBC Worldwide Americas, Los Angeles

Alice Taylor has over a decade of experience working in new media, from developing Channel 4's first website (www.channel4.com) in 1996 to more recent projects at the BBC in digital media Strategy & Innovation. Alice specialises in sociable software and videogaming crossovers with television and radio; as VP, Digital Content for the BBC in Hollywood, she is currently very involved in interactive entertainment formats.

Previous to the BBC, Alice was the co-founder and Director of the software company Stor, which created Stortroopers (www.stortroopers.com) and other web-based community tools for clients such as Warner Bros. Stor also produced over 300 live celebrity web events for the UK's Channel 4 Television and Capital Radio.

Alice speaks publicly on games and sociable media, and was recently a judge for the 2006 Machinima awards and the 2007 Independent Games Festival. She also contributes to conferences and events, most recently the 2007 Oxford Media Convention, the 2005 and 2006 Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festivals (eief.co.uk), and the 2006 AULA in Helsinki.

Alice founded and co-edits the gamecentric blog Wonderland (www.wonderlandblog.com) and has written about gaming for sites and magazines, including BBC News, The Guardian, Paste magazine and Kotaku.com.


Dr Mary Flanagan
Associate Professor and
Director of Tiltfactor Laboratory

Dr. Mary Flanagan is Associate Professor and Director of the Tiltfactor Laboratory, housed in the Department of Film and Media Studies at Hunter College. The lab researches and develops computer games and software systems using unique methods to teach science, math, and applied programming skills to young people, particularly girls and minorities.

Most of her career has been spent developing methods of engaging girls and women in science and technology and she has over a decade of experience in software design; she has garnered over 20 international awards for this work. Mary created The Adventures of Josie True (www.josietrue.com), the award winning science and mathematics environment for middle school girls (NSF 99), was designer on the collaborative RAPUNSEL research (NSF 03) and is now collaborating on integrating human values in the design of software (NSF 06).

Mary has published extensively about innovative design for social equity, as well as essays on books on computer games. She is also a practicing artist.


Raina Lee
Publisher and editor of 1-Up MegaZine

Raina Lee is the publisher and editor of 1-Up MegaZine (1up-zine.com) the first handmade art journal devoted to game culture and criticism. In 1-Up she compiles writing, comics, and art about personal experiences in gaming. 1-Up has been featured in The Face, Black + White, XLR8R, Giant Robot, Anthem, Bitch, Plan B, Edge, GameNow, Plan B, and G4 Media. 1-Up has been exhibited at "Page Me: Zines and Comics (Space Gallery, Ohio)" a collection of notable handmade books and zines.

Based in New York City, she writes a weekly column for VH1Gamebreak.com called 'You Only Live Twice: Adventures In Game Culture' and produces a bi-weekly radio piece, 'Up Up Down Down Left Right LA Start' for One Life Left a gaming culture and news radio show on Resonance 103.1 in London. She has written for Wired, Gamasutra.com, Computer Gaming World, Gamespy.com, Xbox Nation and Nickelodeon Magazine. Raina contributed the essay, 'A Personal History Of Zines' to Whatcha' Mean, What's A Zine? a guide to zine making and history (Houghton Mifflin Company 2005) and also the author of Hit Me With Your Best Shot: A Guide To Karaoke Domination by Chronicle Books, forthcoming in Spring 2008.

Raina is making games and technology content accessible to women, girls, older folks, and others alienated by the teenage male-centered game media. Raina is an MA Candidate in Media and Film Studies at the New School for Social Research and holds a BA in Sociology from the University of California at Davis.


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Women in Games 2007 Conference Sponsors
University of Wales, Newport

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Welsh Assembly Government
This event is supported by the Welsh Assembly Government