Shiraz Akmal
Corporate Vice President of Operations-Product Development
THQ

Keynote: Outsourcing: The Next Stage of Evolution in Game Development

Shiraz Akmal is corporate vice president of Operations-Product Development for THQ.  He oversees the central divisions of THQ’s product development organization including: External Development Group (XDG), Motion Capture, Quality Assurance, Localization, Music, and Voice and Sound.

Most recently, in his role as founder of THQ XDG, his team has been instrumental in streamlining and growing the company's global product development capabilities through outsourcing.  With more than six years as an executive director and a founding member of THQ's Heavy Iron Studios, Shiraz brings more than 16 years of creative, technical, and operational experience to THQ.  

Shiraz’s career highlights include directing and/or programming multi-million unit hit titles including The Incredibles, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Scooby-Doo! He was also involved in programming several genre-defining products such as, You Don't Know Jack, The Netshow and the After Dark screen saver. Additionally, his first videogame was published at age 17.  

Session Speakers

Chris Lena
Producer
Sony Online Entertainment

Session: Anatomy of an Outsourcng Deal

Chris Lena is the producer of EverQuest at Sony Online Entertainment (SOE).  Chris has been involved in the creation of the recent expansions of EverQuest.   He began his work at SOE as a producer and designer on EverQuest Online Adventures, then spent a year coordinating all game localization efforts for the company.  Chris has been on the EverQuest team since 2003. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from the University of California at Irvine.

Jamil Moledina
Executive Conference Director
Game Developers Conference

Jamil Moledina is the executive director of the Game Developers Conference, and is responsible for the business, production, and content of the show. From an editorial perspective, he manages the selection of sessions, secures and develops the keynotes, builds the networking events, and ensures the overall quality and integrity of the attendee/vendor experience at GDC. Within the GDC, Jamil is also the executive producer of the Game Developers Choice Awards and the Independent Games Festival. His work is informed by the GDC Advisory Board, and he maintains close ties to both the developer and publisher communities. He is also the director of GDC Mobile, Serious Games Summit D.C./GDC, GDC Europe, GDC London, the London Games Summit, the GDC Focus On series, and other major game industry events produced by the CMP Game Group, as well as co-director of the Hollywood and Games Summit in conjunction with The Hollywood Reporter.

Justin Muir
Art Producer
Midway Games

Session: The 21st Century Art Director

Justin Muir is the art producer on Stranglehold at Midway Games in Chicago. He currently directs art outsourcing with local and overseas providers for Midway's first next-gen AAA title and its integration with the studio's internal art team. He has worked as a game developer for over 13 years across multiple platforms.

Lewis Peterson
President & CEO
7 Studios

Session: Do-It-Yourself: Growing Your Own Outsourcing Group

At 7 Studios, Lewis Peterson leads the company in day-to-day operations, overseeing the growth and development of the studio as well as game production. Lewis brings 12 years of industry experience to the company, as well as degrees in Quantitative Economics from Stanford University and a J.D. from Yale Law School with a focus in business law.

Prior to founding 7 Studios, Lewis was an executive producer at Westwood Studios. His responsibilities included management of five teams, including all of Westwood’s external development. During his tenure at Westwood, he directly managed and released four products that reached the top 10 in sales.

Lewis was responsible for overall vision, design, staffing & project management for two key Westwood franchises and product lines. He created renewed interest in the Dune franchise - the continuation of the popular RTS Dune 2. His management of the Command & Conquer franchise included continuing development of the Red Alert property, expanding the C&C line to the consoles, and developing a new direction for the franchise with the recently released Command & Conquer: Renegade.

Rajesh Rao
CEO
Dhruva Interactive

Session: When Does It Work And Where Does It Fail? A Postmortem

Rajesh Rao is the CEO of Dhruva Interactive, India’s oldest and most respected games company. In his best-selling book “The World is Flat,” Tom Friedman highlighted how Rajesh built a globally successful games company out of India as an example of globalization.

Eight-year-old Dhruva Interactive has pioneered gaming in India. Today, Dhruva is a leading provider of production services in the world, and has worked on 12 AAA titles for clients like Microsoft, Electronic Arts and Codemasters. Dhruva leads the Indian market with original local content on the PC and mobile platforms.

Joe Shoopack
Studio Art Director
Sony Online Entertainment

Session: Anatomy of an Outsourcing Deal

Joe Shoopack is studio art director for Sony Online Entertainment in San Diego.  He directs the studio’s senior art staff in producing titles for PC, PS3 and PSP platforms.  He is also responsible for managing the studio’s relationships with domestic and overseas outsource partners who provide art assets and motion capture data.  A veteran of the game industry, Joe has developed over 25 titles on platforms ranging from the PS3 to the Atari 6800, including Art Directing EverQuest II and its expansion content. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Illustration from Brigham Young University.

Paul Steed
Creative Director
Atari

Session: Knowing When to Outsource: A Publisher's Perspective

Paul Steed has been making games for the past 14 years. He's contributed art or design to over 20 games, visualizers or demos, written three books on modeling, and animating real-time characters. He's also an advisory board member for both Game Developer magazine and the GDC. After finishing two years providing creative direction for Xbox, he joined Atari as their creative director for product development. Paul now lives and works in the Manhattan area and is into fast trucks and high-polygon women.

Ben Wibberley
Executive Vice-President North America
Babel Media

Session: How does It Work, and How To Implement It?

Ben Wibberley is one of the co-founders of Babel Media, the leading dedicated games services outsourcing company. This UK Company has sustained remarkable growth without compromising quality since incorporation in 1999.

Initially responsible for all sales, marketing and direction as the company expanded its service portfolio, Ben is now responsible for the development of the company in North America. Having worked with almost every major games player in Europe and North America, Ben has wide-ranging experience. He holds a BA degree in Modern History from UWE, Bristol, England.