



Brenda Romero is a BAFTA award-winning game designer, artist and Fulbright award recipient who entered the tech industry in 1981.










"Brenda Romero is a hurricane. She has not only left her mark in the GameDev industry and proved herself as an outstanding game designer, but she has also put her voice at the disposal of the community. Rarely, in the tech world there has been such a crystal clear voice, a sharp minded wit, a lucid view on the topic of inclusion and inclusiveness. She is a bright example to follow and one of the most disruptive personalities in the tech world"
As a designer, she has worked on 47 games and contributed to many seminal titles, including the Wizardry and Jagged Alliance series and titles in the Ghost Recon, Dungeons & Dragons and Def Jam franchises. Away from the machine, her analogue series of six games, The Mechanic is the Message, has drawn national and international acclaim, particularly Train and Siochán Leat, a game about her family’s history, which is presently housed in the National Museum of Play.
Most recently, in 2018, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award (the Bizkaia award) at the Fun and Serious Games Festival in Bilbao, Spain, and the inaugural Grace Hopper Award presented by Science Foundation Ireland at the Women in Tech conference in Dublin, Ireland.
In 2017, she received the 2017 Development Legend award at Develop: Brighton. That same year, she won a BAFTA Special Award for her contributions to the industry. In 2015, she won the coveted Ambassador’s Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards. In 2014, she received a Fulbright award to study Ireland’s game industry and academic and government policies. Romero is CEO of Romero Games based in Galway.


Ken Hughes is internationally renowned as one of the world’s leading authorities on how and why people buy. A leading consumer behaviouralist, he helps the biggest blue-chip brands decode consumer values, build customer connection and design customer experience that moves the needle. He blends data with story so teams can create change in real life, not just in theory.


Ian Goldin, a respected professor at Oxford University and principal economist, has advised world leaders and written influential books. As a former World Bank vice president, his work shapes global discussions on technology, the economy, and global challenges, impacting both academia and policy-making.


Professor Costas Markides, Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at London Business School, is a leading voice on strategic leadership, disruptive innovation and business model change. He was ranked #31 on the Thinkers50 list in 2011 and shortlisted for the Thinkers50 Strategy Award that year, a strategic management award. He holds the Robert P Bauman Chair in Strategic Leadership at London Business School.


Baroness Karren Brady CBE is a leading British businesswoman, entrepreneur and television personality. Renowned for her sharp business acumen and dynamic leadership, she inspires audiences with powerful lessons on ambition, resilience and turning challenges into success in competitive, high-pressure industries.