Former Thatgamecompany president Kellee Santiago joins the advisory board of worldwide organization Women in Games International, the company announced today.
The company now includes a board of 12 members with experience at various levels of the games industry. These include Gaikai vice president of business development Careen Yapp, Electronic Arts' global diversity specialist Kelsey Wesley, Mary-Margaret Network CEO Mary-Margaret Walker, the co-director of Games+Learning+Society Center at UW-Madison Constance Steinkuehler, University of Southern California's video games information technology program faculty member Tom Sloper, EA's director of global talent acquisitions Ginger Maseda, GDC Events' Bibi Jackson, GlassLab's game design lead Erin Hoffman, Playlife Media president Germaine Gioia, Silicon Sisters Interactive CEO Brenda Bailey Gershkovitch and IndieCade CEO Stephanie Barish.
"Everyone involved with WIGI is passionate about making the video game industry more inclusive, and we all have amazing ideas about outreach programs we can create to make that happen," said company president and CEO Belinda Van Sickle.
"This advisory board will enable us to move forward with some of those initiatives and help us continue supporting existing programs like GameMentorOnline. We can't wait to see what a difference having this group will make for us, and ultimately everyone in the industry."
Women in Games Internation aims to promote the inclusion and advancement of women in the games industry while advocating healthy work conditions, new opportunities and a better work/life balance across the board.