Patrick Klaus is Vice President and General Manager for Electronic Arts’ Motive Studio and has over 20 years of experience in the games industry. In 2019, Patrick returned to Electronic Arts after seven years at Ubisoft Quebec, where he led the studio during the release of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Before that, Patrick spent ten years at Electronic Arts in the United Kingdom in various development, operations, and publishing roles. At Motive, Patrick’s mission and passion are building a world-class team focused on creating innovative AAA action games within iconic worlds where every player feels like the hero. The studio is currently working on a Dead Space remake as well as another unannounced project.

Leah Hoyer is the GM and Vice President of Creative for Wizards of the Coast’s New IP Studio. She has developed and produced television series, video games, and interactive experiences for some of the world’s most beloved entertainment companies (Disney, Xbox, Telltale Games, Bungie) for over twenty years. She is a recognized expert in interactive storytelling and franchise development across various media. She is passionate about supporting diverse voices in entertainment and working to make everyone feel that gaming is for them.

Shiew Yeu Loh joined Amber Studio in May this year as their Art Executive Producer to help with Blockchain Game and NFT Art Production. She will be providing mentorship to the art team as well as coaching them about process, tools and pipeline. A game industry veteran, she started as a texture artist, a generalist and a producer in 2004 before working at Electronic Arts as the Senior External Development Artist for 14 years. During her time at the Sims, Shiew Yeu worked on Sims Nintendo Wii, Sims 3, Sims Medieval, Sims Online Store, Sims Mobile and Sims 4. In 2020, she moved onto Pocket Gems as an Art Manager to oversee the mobile game War Dragon by working with the dev team, art leadership and outsourcing vendors. She was also in charge of implementing diversity and inclusion content into their character library. Shiew Yeu has been a speaker at various game industry conferences regarding being a mother in the game industry as well as topics that center around diversity and inclusion.

Joe Nickolls is Co-Founder and Managing Director of Timbre Games Studio, bringing with him over 22 years of experience in AAA Video Game development. Along with a passion for diversity of people and thought, Joe brings a sense of humour and community to the Vancouver market and is driven to set up a centre of excellence in gaming entertainment.

Most recently Joe was Vice President and GM of Maxis - Electronic Arts, leading the Sims team to record breaking results. Joe has worked at some of the biggest gaming companies in the world like Electronic Arts, Microsoft, and Capcom, and has overseen some of the largest gaming franchises in the industry including FIFA, NHL, The Sims, SimCity, Puzzle Fighter, Dead Rising and countless others. Joe is committed to building Timbre into a new kind of studio for Vancouver, with a team of some of the best leaders in the industry. Timbre’s focus is AAA games, diversity, inclusion and equity for all.

Tattooed, besuited and a fan of French Bulldogs, Joe is an early adopter, coffee snob, average skier, & usually the tallest guy in the room.

Matt has spent his 15+ year career furthering his passion for exdev across multiple games and software studios. He continues to promote cross team collaboration while leading, mentoring, and coaching teams to improve all aspects of external production.