Bio
Belinda Van Sickle is an entertainment technology industry influencer and thought leader with deep resources among clients and partners. She provides strategy, marketing and product management services for emerging and established companies with expertise negotiating among multi-national corporations. She has written and lectured using her experience-driven competitive analysis of product and company positioning and branding. Van Sickle is the Founder and CEO of GameDocs specializing in strategic and marketing consulting. She started her video game career in 1997 at Activision and in 1999, was one of the founding members of Ignited, an ad agency specializing in the game industry. She has worked on advertising, marketing and strategy for Activision, Disney, Microsoft, Sony, Warner Bros., Vivendi, Blizzard, Konami, Midway, Capcom, LucasArts, DARPA and other AAA, mobile, social and serious game developers and publishers. She started volunteering for Women in Games International in 2006. In 2009 she became Executive Director of the non-profit organization, leading WIGI's efforts to promote and encourage women's achievement in the video game industry. She has an undergraduate degree in Psychology and Women's Studies from the University of California at Santa Cruz and a Master's in English with a focus in Creative Writing from Sonoma State University. She has spoken at tech industry conferences such as the Game Developers Conference, Casual Connect, NAB and Tech Week. She has been interviewed about the game industry by publications like Wired, GameSpot, GameCareerGuide, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and LA Weekly. She has lectured at the University of Southern California, California State University—Fullerton, Laguna College of Art and Design, the NewSchool of Architecture and Design, the Art Institute of California—Los Angeles and Westwood College.