Tom Shannon is a Technical Artist at Epic Games on the Education team where he focuses on helping schools achieve success with Unreal Engine by developing content and resources for students, educators and individuals learning and teaching Unreal Engine. Tom is the author of “Unreal Engine for Design Visualization”, and has been developing games, simulations, and visualizations for 20 years, specializing in Unreal Engine for over a decade.

Tal worked in Video Game Journalism at IGN for over 20 years where he led a team of more than 80 content creators as the VP of content. He helped grow IGN into one of the largest video game, entertainment, tech, and pop culture  media companies in the world with a reach of more than 120 million monthly viewers.

Stephen Hebard, PhD is the Chief Innovation Officer at Prevention Strategies and Director of the Esports Research and Innovation Lab, working in collaboration with the Center for Athlete Well-being at UNCG. Stephen is the lead developer of Teamspark, an online coach development community for new high school esports coaches. Teamspark’s value proposition is twofold: It is a social support network where coaches collaboratively identify problems and develop unique solutions to installing, growing, and maintaining an esports program in their high school. Stephen also leads The Esports Athlete Mental Well-being Study (TEAMS), a study that is providing a comprehensive look at the well-being of varsity collegiate esports athletes. Stephen’s love for gaming has continued into adulthood and is expressed through Rocket League and cooperative gameplay with his children.

Rick is an entrepreneur who took his life-long love of sports and flipped the switch to create a company built around virtual gaming. He founded Charlotte-based startup Stay Plugged IN in 2019; an esports scouting organization that helps provide pathways to college, as well as upward mobility for esports amateurs throughout the country. Rick is committed to being intentional in providing a proper foundation and education for both players and parents in the esports ecosystem. Suarez became interested in esports when his son became a gamer, and he decided to dig into what it was all about.

Zach provides valuable knowledge regarding esports technology and hardware for Esports Development and Growth Enterprise (EDGE). In addition to his IT knowledge, Harrington excels in esports-related coaching and streamlining the operations of collegiate esports programs. For his proficiency in coaching, Harrington was awarded the college NAECAD National Esports Coach of the Year in 2021. He currently oversees league and tournament operations for the UNCG Scholastic Esports Alliance and has also served as the Assistant Director of Esports at Shenandoah University.

Danny is a visionary and thought leader in the esports industry. As the Co-founder/CEO of Esposure Inc. and Esports Subject Matter Expert at SMU, he has aided in the professional development of students, interns, and post-graduates. These students have received esports scholarships and employment from acclaimed universities and esports organizations like Central Methodist University, Complexity Gaming, Pacers Gaming, and Mavs Gaming. Furthermore, he has provided opportunities for many esports players to play with professional franchises. In his pursuit of connecting everyone to esports, he maintains relationships with the NBA, NFL, & music industry. 

Luke began his career in 2003 as a commentator and broadcast tech at QuakeCon, where he completely fell in love with the industry. After that he contracted for MLG and Blizzard as well as some local LAN organizers. He had no formal education in video games and esports, so it was all self-taught and learned through experience. Eventually he made his way out to California to work full time at ESL Burbank. That has turned out to be quite a successful endeavor as he is now a full time broadcast producer and director for them.