Speakers

Jake Truman

Jake has spent over a decade working with video games across retail, journalism and publishing. Now a Product Manager for Wargaming’s flagship title World of Tanks, Jake lead the formation of the ANZ Premier League, which in less than a year has already evolved into a multi-tiered competition and is quickly becoming one of the most exciting esports ecosystems in OCE.

John McRae

John McRae is the founder of VADR an Executive Production firm that produces and promotes arts, entertainment, sports and XR initiatives. John is a 20-year veteran of the events and broadcasting industry and has developed programming for free-to-air, cable, pay-per-view, OTT and online platforms. In 2018, he was named by New Zealand Marketing Magazine as the Media Visionary of the Year for his work in esports, media and pay-per-view. John is a strong advocate for the esports industry and serves as President of the New Zealand Esports Federation which he founded in 2016 when VADR launched esports broadcaster Letsplay.live. In 2020, the New Zealand Government recognised the New Zealand Esports Federation as the official National Sports Organisation for Esports.

David Mackay

David holds over two decades experience in advisory and strategy roles. His interests lie in the business models of sports, media and entertainment organisations among others. He is an advocate for Australia’s role in developing world-leading sports capabilities and sports integrity. David has have experience in financial sustainability, value proposition development, and integrity management within the Sports, Media and Entertainment sectors. David has advised National and State Sporting Organisations, arts and cultural centres, broadcast media, and private commercial entertainment providers on strategy, governance and integrity, commercial performance improvement, capital works planning, and partnering and fundraising strategies.

Mat Jessep

Mat Jessep is a commercial/corporate lawyer and business consultant with specialist skills and experience in Sports, Esports, Media and Entertainment, acting for clients in Australia, New Zealand, North America, the UK, and Europe. Since 2016 Mat has dedicated part of his legal practice (Game Legal) and consultancy (Game Consulting TM) to the fast-growing esports sector, acting for clients with interests in leagues and teams in Europe, North America, Australia, and Asia, as well as for sporting organisations seeking an entry into esports. Mat developed and teaches the ‘Esports and The Law’ subject at Melbourne Law School and developed and teaches the ‘Sport Integrity & Ethics’ subject at Victoria University. In 2021 Mat was engaged by Sport Integrity Australia to undertake a review and report on integrity in Australian esports (yet to be published).

Speakers

Dr. Emma Witkowski

Emma Witkowski is a Senior Lecturer with the Games Design program at RMIT University, Australia. As a qualitative sociological researcher of networked game cultures, particularly high-performance practices, esports modernization, and young people’s relationships with their organized digital leisure activities. Emma has published widely on esports careers, gender and games, and the institutionalisation of esports. She has been an academic consultant across several government departments, councils, and professional esports and sports organisations, and sits on the board of the Australian Esports Association and Order Esports.

Nikolasa Biasiny-Tule

In 2014, Nikolasa co-founded Digital Natives Academy, a 1500sqm state-of-the art facility offering esports, wellbeing, content creation and, animation. Digital Natives Academy is an intergenerational centre of digital excellence, a place where curious young minds can find exceptional digital leaders along with state of the art digital tech. Digital Natives Academy gives children who would not ordinarily have access to fun and engaging opportunities to learn, explore and engage with Computer Science as it relates to core STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Maths) subjects. Te Iwi Matihiko is a value-based approach to digital wellbeing. This programme helps young people, their whānau and their teachers, understand the positive and negative impacts that digital spaces play on their overall wellbeing. Te Iwi Matihiko provides a foundation on which our key values; mana (respect), manaaki (caring for others) and kaitiakitanga (guardianship) can be explored and activated. Through our programs, we hope that we can encourage our tamariki, rangatahi, pakeke, kaumataua and whānau to learn to become creators, developers and producers of technology and not just consumers and users of it.

Scott Farmer

With an international background in League of Legends coaching, Scott has developed as a high performance leader and operations manager in esports under the roof of notable organisations, from traditional sports club Essendon Football as the Bombers inaugural head coach, to EXCEL esports, the British based multi-esports powerhouse organisation. Scott’s is currently Head of Operations for Pentanet.GG, the Western Australia based esports club and leading League of Legends team in Oceania. Throughout his career, Scott has worked to assist players find a healthy balance between lifestyle and high performance careers in esports, and to develop cohesive and respectful team cultures.

Nat “NatTea” Mahoney

Esports Interviewer & Host. Content Creator @DireWolves

Nat “NatTea” Mahoney is a Twitch live streamer and esports host, most recently broadcasting for The International 10: Southeast Asia Qualifier (DoTA2). Her work in esports has been gained by leading organisations, including ESL and Dire Wolves Esports club.

Paul Roos

At Performance by Design, Paul works to build high performing cultures by helping role model leaders bring team behaviours to life. Through tailored systems, Performance by Design empowers teams and ensures cultural transformation. Paul is also founder and speaker of the Roos Mens Club, a men’s wellness & leadership club with a vision to build a safe environment and community for like-minded men to learn about health and wellness, acquire the tools to live a well-balanced life, and provide a safe place for men to come together to share and learn about optimal health.