Bio: Melissa is an award-winning Music Educator, specialized in EdTech and Arts Integration, and a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert from Winnipeg, Manitoba.

She is the founder and president of Middle Years Esport Manitoba and the Canadian Middle School Esport Association, and actively involved in scholastic esports advocacy, research, and publication.

Connect with Melissa on Twitter

@CMSesport or @MelissaBurnsED

Shaun Byrne is the Esports Director for the varsity esports program at St. Clair College in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. In 2017, St. Clair College was the first post-secondary institution in Canada to fully embrace varsity esports. Since January of 2019 he has also served as program coordinator and faculty lead for the Esports Administration and Entrepreneurship academic program, one of only a handful of programs in the world training students for careers in the esports industry. While Shaun doesn't have as much time to play games these days, when he gets the opportunity his favorites are the Civilization series, the Diablo series and anything in the battle royale genre.​

An Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow Emeritus and NASA STEM Endeavor Fellow, Jonathan has led efforts across the world in promoting STEM Education within schools, districts, communities, educational organizations, and industry. For over a decade, he has delivered mission driven keynotes on transformative culture, creating highly engaging student experiences, developing curriculum around transdisciplinary integration, and leading strategic implementation around culture change. Using his experience in the U.S. Senate working on STEM education policy and his background as one of the architects behind culture transformation programs such as STEMformation and STEM Leader Corps., Jonathan continues to support both school and industry leaders on a global scale to provide engaging experiences to local schools and communities. As the Sr. Director of Partnerships at Legends of Learning, he continues to move the needle with both districts and industry leaders in providing students engaging experiences preparing them for future careers.

Dr. BerNadette Lawson-Williams is a woman of many talents and interests. She is a proud Mommy-scholar, entrepreneur, innovator, educator and is in her 18th year of passionate professorship as a tenured Full Professor of Sport Management at Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU). Most notably, in this capacity, she developed and implemented JCSU’s fully online Sport Management program and founded/advises its Esports and Gaming Trifecta, both of which are the first at an HBCU.

As Founder/Advisor of JCSU’s Esports and Gaming Trifecta, Dr. Lawson-Williams manages the Esports and Gaming Management academic program/Certificate program, built and coordinates the Esports Lab, and serves as Advisor for JCSU’s Game Development Club, and highly competitive Esports Club, which has become a formidable force in the HBCU/collegiate esports and gaming ecosystem as evidenced by its long list of victories against well-known PWIs and HBCUs across the nation. Dr. Lawson-Williams has also been instrumental in solidifying the Trifecta’s brand as a premier collegiate esports and gaming dynasty through her establishment of partnerships with leading global endemic and non-endemic corporations such as: Riot Games, POINT3, a premier athletic performance company, and the CEV Collection, a Black-owned premier eyewear company based in Dallas, Texas, among others. Through her efforts, JCSU’s Esports and Gaming Trifecta is widely recognized as a blueprint for HBCU Esports.

Twitter/Instagram: @DrBLW32

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-bernadette-lawson-williams-9572bb40

Working in the gaming industry for 6+ years, events for 5+. Founder of Latinx in Gaming and Vice Chair for the International Game Developer's Association.​

Dr. BerNadette Lawson-Williams is a woman of many talents and interests. She is a proud Mommy-scholar, entrepreneur, innovator, educator and is in her 18th year of passionate professorship as a tenured Full Professor of Sport Management at Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU). Most notably, in this capacity, she developed and implemented JCSU’s fully online Sport Management program and founded/advises its Esports and Gaming Trifecta, both of which are the first at an HBCU.

As Founder/Advisor of JCSU’s Esports and Gaming Trifecta, Dr. Lawson-Williams manages the Esports and Gaming Management academic program/Certificate program, built and coordinates the Esports Lab, and serves as Advisor for JCSU’s Game Development Club, and highly competitive Esports Club, which has become a formidable force in the HBCU/collegiate esports and gaming ecosystem as evidenced by its long list of victories against well-known PWIs and HBCUs across the nation. Dr. Lawson-Williams has also been instrumental in solidifying the Trifecta’s brand as a premier collegiate esports and gaming dynasty through her establishment of partnerships with leading global endemic and non-endemic corporations such as: Riot Games, POINT3, a premier athletic performance company, and the CEV Collection, a Black-owned premier eyewear company based in Dallas, Texas, among others. Through her efforts, JCSU’s Esports and Gaming Trifecta is widely recognized as a blueprint for HBCU Esports.

Twitter/Instagram: @DrBLW32

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-bernadette-lawson-williams-9572bb40

Bubba currently is the Executive Director of the Varsity Esports Foundation (VEF), an Esports Ambassador with D&H Distributing, as well as an adjunct professor in higher-ed since 2013. The VEF is a non-profit that strives to increase literacy around esports and how to be proactive with such initiatives as healthy lifestyles, curriculum, mental health, diversity and inclusion, toxicity, addictions, suicide prevention, internet safety, and belonging through STEM education and digital citizenship. Bubba has worked in the non-profit and traditional sports industry for 20 years with the YMCA, NCAA, NAIA, Parks and Recs, Sports Commissions, and the Chamber of Commerce. He has been a gamer and self-proclaimed NERD ever since he was a kid when his dad managed Radio Shacks in Oklahoma. Back in 2017, he dove deep into the esports industry through streaming and marketing, then realizing that students in disenfranchised low-income areas did not have the same access as students in the suburbs, so he partnered with many esports organizations to create this foundation. He now works to educate businesses, organizations, and schools about being proactive around the foundation's initiatives and providing a pathway to provide STEM education through gaming and esports clubs in schools.

VEF Assets link: https://bit.ly/VEF-Assets [bit.ly]