Speakers
Chris Melissinos, Principal Evangelist,Game Tech, AWS
Chris Melissinos is the Principal Evangelist for Video Games and Immersive Technologies at AWS, where he helps influence the next generation of game technology and offerings from AWS while also acting as a developer advocate, ensuring that the needs of game developers are met. Prior to AWS, he was the Chief Gaming Officer at Sun Microsystems, Inc., creator of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's "The Art of Video Games" exhibition, Executive Director of Media and Entertainment for Verizon. He is also a voting BAFTA member and sits on the advisory panel for the Women in Games International (WIGI) organization, Community Clubhouse, and is a founding board member of the Video Game History Foundation. His "The Art of Video Games" exhibition explored the 40-year evolution of video games as an art form, demonstrating its impact on American culture, and traveled to 10 additional museums across the US. For this work, he received the industry "Ambassador Award" at the 2013 Game Developers Choice Awards at the Game Developers Conference. He co-authored the book, "The Art of Video Games: From Pac-Man to Mass Effect", and has contributed to or been featured in numerous other works. A frequent speaker at major industry events and universities around the world, he has been featured in more than 30 news outlets including CBS, ABC, BBC, NPR, Wired, Time Magazine, National Geographic, Nintendo Power, Game Informer, and TEDx. He is also the host of the weekly "Boss Rush" video game industry news livestream on LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitch, and Spotify.