People
Carl Varnado
Carl Varnado is an author, educator, and content creator deeply committed to the development and growth of young people. He is currently CEO of Knarrative.com, a web portal that focuses on helping descendants of the African diaspora grow and learn about their history.
He has served as a writer and cultural consultant to EA Games. He is the creator and producer of the Black in Gaming Awards. He has assisted Epic Games in Curriculum Design for their innovative Unreal Engine.
Carl is dedicated to increasing African American participation and influence in the interactive media industries. He is an advisor to the Black Collegiate Game Association, and a contributor to the Black Heroes Matter movement. He is a frequent speaker at the Game Developers Conference and San Diego Comic Con.
In his spare time, Mr. Varnado writes screenplays and designs video games. His upcoming projects “Black Dragon” and “The Last MC” will be released exclusively on Knarrative soon.
Dennis Mathews
Dennis Mathews is the Founder and CEO of Revelation Interactive and CTO at Codicast Interactive. He was mentioned as 1 of the top 10 African American game developers by Black Enterprise. Dennis is an avid programmer and has been programming for over 20+ years for games, websites, hardware, and custom business applications.
In this Special Interest Group (SIG), Dennis has spoken on various topics ranging from outreach, education, and inclusion in the game industry. He is on Black in Gaming’s executive leadership team, which strives to demystify the video gaming industry for people of color.
Dennis was mentioned as one of the top 10 African American game developers in 2016 by Black Enterprise. Taking the success, he has had in software development, he is currently working on developing games in the augmented/virtual reality game, casual game, and mobile application markets.
Arthur Milano
Arthur Milano is an advertising and digital media director with nearly three decades of advertising and marketing experience in ad agencies and internal marketing teams in Boston, Atlanta, and Phoenix. Arthur has been a mentor, instructor, creative leader, and an advocate of creative thinking and creative problem solving.
This award-winning content creator, digital media designer, and strategist has pledged himself to the Black in Gaming Foundation to help ensure that all design, marketing, and social media efforts are professional, consistent, compelling, and best of all, effective.
A digital creative professional who leverages social media, digital marketing and online campaigns to expand the brand voice and digital engagement opportunities for Fortune 500 brands as well as Black in Gaming.
Cornell Wright
Cornell Wright goes far beyond fixing technology problems arising from computer and internet malfunctions. Trouble shooting, maintaining and supervising systems and the people who operate them are also part of his expertise. With extensive experience in training and implementing new technologies in Business and Higher Education, he has worked with a diverse set of people and there needs especially in building and maintaining staffs.
Dr. Bret Staudt Willet
Bret Staudt Willet, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Instructional Systems & Learning Technologies at Florida State University.
Bret’s research investigates self-directed networked learning. He is most interested in what happens when our students, learners, and trainees finish the instruction and training we design for them. What do they do after they walk out the door or log off? How do they continue to develop the knowledge, skills, and abilities they need? Where do they look for resources? Who do they talk to?