Take a look at our panel of industry experts who will be deciding the next cohort of 10 for the 2021 Intel FutureGen programme!
Next week, a shortlist of applicants will be put forward to a panel of eight industry judges representing different areas of the sector. The Intel FutureGen 2021 panel are:
Mary Antieul
Director of Operations, Research & Strategy for Belong at Vindex
Mary Antieul works as Director of Operations, Research & Strategy for Belong at Vindex LLC. She has worked in the gaming industry for fifteen years and has significant experience within gaming retail, in building and sustaining gaming communities and delivering exciting competitive experiences for gamers.
Mary’s focus is to encourage the growth of the grassroots scene through competition and supporting infrastructure.
Mark Broom
UK Consumer Client Marketing Specialist at Intel
Mark Broom has worked at Intel for 11 years in a range of roles and for the past 4 years he has been a UK Consumer Marketing Specialist. His main areas of focus are the Gaming & Esports audiences in the UK alongside other consumer segments. He is responsible for planning and executing direct marketing activities focused on increasing preference for Intel within these areas.
Will Buck
Brand Manager at Riot Games
Esports Pro turned Marketer. Before and even during the early stages of his marketing career, he was a professional esports player on the Halo series with multiple European Championships under his belt, as well as a Top 8 finish at the Halo World Championship.
Will eventually decided to trade in travelling and trophies to focus on his career in marketing, where he is now a Brand Manager at Riot Games responsible for marketing the 5v5 character-based tactical shooter VALORANT across Northern Europe.
Matthew Colclough
Esports lead within Barclays Games and Esports Team
Having worked in banking for almost 10 years, in a number of roles, Matthew now leads the Esports stream, within Barclays Games and Esports Team. With a background in games design and as an endemic gamer himself, Matthew is uniquely placed to understand the industry and its financial needs.
Matthew’s day to day role sees him manage, develop and grow Barclays offerings and connections in the esports sector. Matthew is responsible for esports partnerships, ensuring all partnerships are leveraged in an authentic way to ensure Barclays is always adding value to the esports community.
Alex Coulson
Managing Director of NSE & Sport Industry Group
Alex is Managing Director Managing Director of NSE (National Student Esports) which is the official body for university esports and the largest grassroots gaming community in the UK; and Managing Director of Sport Industry Group, a B2B organisation which sits at the heart of the UK and international sport industry. Both businesses are part of Benchmark, a family of companies that develop communities and shape purpose-driven brands, where Alex forms part of the senior leadership team.
Prior to joining Benchmark, Alex spent well over a decade agency-side, his previous position being Director, PR and Social Media at IMG Consulting; he has led award-winning communication and sponsorship campaigns in the UK and internationally for a range of clients. Alex is a regular contributor to industry news, conferences, and guest lectures; he also sits on a number Advisory Boards including the Institute of Sport Business at Loughborough University London, Sports Think Tank, NSPCC Sports Network, and Pioneers in Sport.
Tom Donegan
Team Leader, Fundraising and Communications at SpecialEffect
Tom Donegan is an experienced third-sector professional, specialising in video games-focussed fundraising campaigns such as GameBlast and One Special Day, as well as numerous esports charity activations, including ESL’s ‘Battle of the Brands’ and the Esports Insider ‘Work From Home League’. With a background in events management and festival production, he brings a creative flare and a keen attention to detail to his current role as the Fundraising and Communications Team Leader at SpecialEffect. The charity were winners of the BT/ Excel Esports ‘Power of Better’ award in December 2020.
Deborah Mensah-Bonsu
Founder of dmb crew and its flagship initiative Games for Good
Deborah is the Founder of dmb crew and its flagship initiative Games for Good, which focuses on helping studios and industry harness games for social impact. She was a driving force behind the Green Mobile Game Jam which reached more than 100 Million gamers about climate change, and consults for UN Environment's Playing for the Planet. She’s a media professional with more than a decade of experience, first as a print and tv journalist and then as a producer and content guru in games at Xbox and Space Ape.
She is a Special Effect Ambassador, was named one of the Top 100 Women in Games in 2019, winner of the MCV Career Mentor of the Year Award, and nominated for the h100 Awards: Games in 2018. She has been a speaker at conferences around the world including Gamescom, devcom, Twitchcon, Unity for Humanity, Insomnia, ESI, Pax East PGC and more. She loves this industry, good storytelling, bad tv, and sparkling juice drinks.
Dr Maria Stukoff
Director of the Maker Space at The University of Salford
Maria is Director of the Maker Space at The University of Salford, the Co-chair of the Esports Industry Partnership Programme supporting the university’s esports education focus and leads a variety of digital skills initiatives advancing the next generation of game developers, digital creators and future engineers.
Maria is well known for her work in the videogame industry having set up PlayStationFirst - Sony Academic Programme, a founding member of the Next Gen Skills Academy and worked with BAFTA and UKie to engage young women to consider a career in digital entertainment and programmes such as the Young Game Designers Award.
She is an active board member at InnovateHer empowering girls to be tech and industry-ready, the ScreenSkills Games Skills Council, the British Esports Association and supports the advocacy of gender equality and inclusivity challenges as a member of the Women in Esports Committee.
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