About Us
Casual Connect is produced by the Casual Games Association and is the premiere event for the casual games industry with over 4,500 professionals attending Casual Connect each year. Casual Connect brings together the most talented and knowledgeable experts in the casual gaming field to further the casual games industry with the best of networking and learning.
To learn more about the people behind the scenes, visit our website at: casualgamesassociation.org.
Contact Us
To inquire about advertising or sponsorship email us at info@casualconnect.org. To submit a session proposal or magazine article proposal use the online submission form if you have any additional questions about the submission process email us at submissions@casualconnect.org.
ADVISORS
Alla KHRAMTSOVA
V.P. of Business Development INTENIUM GmbH
Germany
Alla has been in the casual games industry since 2003 working on the managerial positions in business development, sales and marketing in Absolutist, the biggest casual games company in Ukraine. In 2007 she left the company after a year of being its CEO and continued her career as VP of Business Development with Germany-based INTENIUM, the leading European casual games distributor, publisher and developer. In this position she is responsible for several strategic directions of the game holding, cooperation with developers and distributors, as well as game development/producing. She holds an MA in English and Literature, and a BA in Marketing.
Neal SINNO
V.P. Business Development Arkadium
USA
Neal Sinno is the VP of Business Development at Arkadium, bringing over ten years of experience in market opportunity assessment, product development and sales management. Prior to joining Arkadium, Neal was VP of Business Development at Game Trust. There he managed key relationships and partners to develop network channel, search and advertising opportunities, and was a member of the executive team responsible for the company's acquisition by RealNetworks. Prior to his role at Game Trust, Neal worked at Mellon Financial Corp, where he was the Director of E-Commerce Product Development. Within his role there, he led a global team of developers, designers and actuaries to create state of the art web based financial applications.
A seasoned sales and e-business specialist, Neal also held key roles at The New York Times and Lucent Technologies. Neal sits on the board of advisors for the Casual Games Association and frequently speaks at key industry events.
David NIXON
USA
After ten years working on "hard core games", in 1999 David dedicated himself to developing "casual" game experiences and pioneering new ways for these games to reach new audiences. In 1999, with RealArcade, he was one of the first to see the potential of digital distribution and "try before you buy". In 2000 he was one of the first to attempt "2nd Party" casual game publishing. In 2001 he looked to Eastern Europe as a source of commercially viable PC games, inspiring game developers around the world to participate in the amazing opportunities this category offered. In 2004 he helped catapult Oberon Media onto the casual games world stage. 2005 found David evangelizing "console casual" games with his central role in the launch of Xbox LIVE Arcade. In 2007 he began to think deeply about how online games would change the nature of our business (though he admits, he didn't see Facebook coming). Now, in 2011 he works to extend the role of "web games" more and more deeply into the casual games arena, expanding the role of online communities and social features in the future of our industry. He recently left his position of President and Founding Partner of Creara USA, Inc. and now serves as the Content Director for the Casual Games Association.
View David's sessions in the archives.
email David
Sean ELLIOT
VP Business Development Playrix Entertainment
Program Advisor, Production & Design
Russia
Yuri Labintsev (aka Sean Elliot) is VP of Business Development at Playrix, a premium casual games developer and publisher with a track record of only top-quality hits like Fishdom, 4 Elements, etc. in the downloadable space and a number of up-and-coming projects on the social nets.
Sean has been with the company since its inception in 2004 and helped grow a startup into what is now a top-tier casual games developer and publisher with a diverse and extensive network of distribution partners on multiple platforms, an experienced 100+ strong in-house dev team and a number of talented external studio partners. His responsibilities include identifying new business opportunities as well as building key partnerships in publishing and distribution across multiple platforms.
He has a degree with honors in English and German languages and also completed coursework at Michigan State University where he picked up the name Sean Elliot that has been his work alias ever since.
email Sean
Alexander LYSKOVSKY
Co-Founder & CEO Alawar Entertainment, Inc.
Program Advisor, Industry Business
Russia
Alexander Lyskovsky graduated from Novosibirsk State University with a degree in information technology. As a student, he specialized in such areas as the processing of large data arrays and the modeling of geophysical processes. In 1997, Alexander founded a company that two years later became Alawar Entertainment, one of the world's leading publishers of casual games for multiple platforms including PC, Mac, iOS, Android, PSP. As chief executive officer and chairman of the board, he's responsible for strategic planning and core operations. Alexander has also served as a founder and an organizer of several conferences and associations, including the Independent Software Developers Forum (ISDEF), Casual Connect Kyiv, the first specialized conference for causal games, Game Developers Conference (KRI). He currently serves on the board of directors for several IT companies.
email Alexander
Vitaliy KHIT
Co-founder & Chief Technical Officer Absolutist
Program Advisor, Production & Development
Ukraine
A graduate of a leading former USSR university, having a degree in Physics, Vitaliy created his first “tetris” back in 80s. Since that time he has produced over 100 casual games as a game designer and programmer. He has been living “casual” during whole life, but had to be “hardcore” when he was managing financials for big companies. For the last 10 years Vitaliy has been a cofounder of Absolutist and the mastermind behind many games of the company. His main dream is to work 24-7 on games. Vitaliy gives strategic development directions to Absolutist’s production and marketing. At the moment Vitaliy is creating a new gaming start-up combining desktop, mobile and web technologies.
email Vitaly
Lerika MALLAYEVA
Director of Flash GAMM Absolutist
Program Advisor, Production & Development
Ukraine
Lerika is the director of the flash game developers and publishers conference "Flash GAMM", the co-manager of Ukrainian Adobe Flash Platform User Group and a Flash game artist and animator since 2003.
email Lerika
Tatiana CHERNOVA
VP of Strategy Development Alawar Entertainment
Program Advisor
Russia
Tatiana joined Alawar Entertainment, the leading international publisher and distributor of casual games, in 2004. In July 2010, she became VP of strategy development, responsible for the development of Alawar's strategy, analytics, market research and the flow of information between the company divisions. Prior to the appointment, she was acting as the director of marketing communications and PR, in charge of public relations, events and market analysis to promote Alawar Entertainment on the international stage. Tatiana is an advisor to the Casual Games Association (CGA). In this role, she helps to organize Casual Connect Kyiv and supports other events the association hosts. Before joining Alawar, Tatiana worked as a journalist and a TV show host. She graduated from Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University with a degree in linguistics and Novosibirsk State University with a degree in economics.
email Tatiana
Jill SCHNEIDERMAN
VP of Business Development MindJolt
Program Advisor
USA
Jill Schneiderman is the Director of Business Development for MindJolt Games, focusing primarily on the licensing and production of games for MindJolt’s social properties. Previously, she headed up domestic business development and international sales for traditional board game company, Imagination Games.
email Jill
Christopher NATSUUME
Co-founder Boomzap Entertainment
Japan
Christopher Natsuume has been developing games for over 15 years. He has been working in the Southeast Asian region since 2004, including founding Singapore-based Boomzap Entertainment, one of the leading independent developers in the region. Boomzap has shipped 8 casual game titles, including the top ranked Jewels of Cleopatra series, using developers in the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, and Japan.
Content Advisor, Casual Connect Magazine