Linda Carlson

Linda has been involved in gaming since her very first, photocopied D&D manual arrived in the mail several decades ago. Over the years, she made the transition from tabletop to online to media to industry… and now serves as the Director of Global Community Relations at Sony Online Entertainment. SOE maintains over a dozen online titles, including EverQuest, EverQuest II, Star Wars Galaxies, Free Realms, Clone Wars Adventures and DC Universe Online. Whether delivering lectures at conventions, hosting SOE Webcasts as “Brasse,” (her garrulous Dwarven alter ego) or working on SOE Community Team projects, Linda is constantly inspired by the passion of the people who create and play games. “In no other field of endeavor do we see such rapid evolution of society, technology and communication,” she explains, “The gaming world is one incredible, organic social experiment, and I can hardly wait to see what’s next!”

Chris Mancil

Chris is Director of Community Management and Social Media at THQ. With more than 13 years in video games, Chris is one of the earlier pioneers in the Community Management field. He has developed, created, or lead communities in many of the iconic massively multiplayer online games over the past decade such as Shadowbane, The Matrix Online, Huxley, Rift, and is currently working on the highly anticipated MMO - Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online. Over a long career, Chris has also had the privilege of working at some of the most successful companies in interactive entertainment, such as Ubisoft, Warner Bros Interactive, Sierra Online, Trion Worlds, and THQ.

Thomas Lagemann

Thomas has been active in the games industry for over 10 years. Based on these activities, it seemed a natural consequence to found Two Pi Team together with Nadja Bastawi in 2005. Next to his occupation in the strategic department at Two Pit Team, he has been increasingly involved in the promotion and development of the German gaming industry’s new blood, which is reflected by activities such as the promotion of the NRW Entwicklertreffen (NRW developer conference), the cooperation with the MD.H Düsseldorf, and being a jury member of the AV-Gründerzentrum (AV incubation unit).