“Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes. How do you measure, measure a year?”

Lyrics from “Seasons of Love” (RENT)

Greetings all,

On 17 December 2012, I stepped into the role of Executive Director of the IGDA, and it’s truly hard to believe that an entire year has already passed! With that being the case, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on the past year just a bit.

In my initial blog post, I quoted that “I will take the ring to Mordor”, my geeky allusion to the fact that this wasn’t going to be an easy job. I certainly understood that and yes, it’s definitely been a year with some transitional challenges – some of which I expected and some I definitely did not. Even so, we endured, we learned valuable lessons and we continued onward with the mission of the IGDA.

As an overall result, it’s been a very rewarding experience with many wins along the way! There are almost too many overwhelming positives to quantify, but I’d like to point out a few key milestones:

• The New Website: We launched a new web presence for our virtual, global organization, giving us a foundation to build upon in years to come!
• Advocacy: We’ve been very vocal on a number of issues, from the violence and video games issues to sexism in the industry (and in the games) to concerns about bullying and developer harassment. We also delivered a great slate of issue-related talks via GDC’s Advocacy Track and the IGDA Summit.
• Scholars: We’ve increased our very successful Scholars program, including a presence at GDC Europe and Gamescom this year.
• Chapters: We’ve seen more and more chapters form or reboot, from Charlotte NC to Egypt, from Israel to Chile, and so on (yes, we are truly a global community).
• Benefits: We’ve added numerous additional benefits, including a variety of global events and publisher and service discounts, and with more on the way.

And while this list is far from complete, I think you get the idea!

In the end, I consider myself extremely fortunate to be in this demanding position, to be working closely with your awesomely talented Operations Manager, Tristin Hightower, collaborating with an actively engaged board of directors, and interacting on a daily basis with a global host of awesome, amazing volunteers and members (yes, that’s YOU!).

But one year is nothing, we’re just getting started! There is so much more to be done in many areas, so let’s keep moving forward together as we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the IGDA in 2014!.

Thank you for all you do to support the IGDA, and my very best wishes for the holiday seasons,

Kate