Kimberly Voll, PhD

Kimberly Voll, PhD has held a variety of roles in the gaming industry since 1997. Kimberly began their career as a self-employed advisor, consultant, designer, and programmer for ZanyT Games. In 2012, they became Senior Faculty for the Masters of Digital Media Program at the Centre for Digital Media, where they developed and taught courses in game design/development, rapid prototyping, software engineering, and project management. In 2013, they joined the Global Game Jam Executive Committee and helped plan the local Vancouver site. Kimberly then joined Radial Games Corp. as a Developer, Designer, and Researcher, designing and programming titles such as ROCKETSROCKETSROCKETS and Fantastic Contraption. In 2015, they were hired as Director, Researcher, and Lead Designer at Roadhouse Interactive, developing and coordinating shared tech and design across the studio. In 2016, they joined Riot Games as an Advisor and Principal Technical Designer, leading company-wide player-behaviour efforts and strategy. In 2017, they co-founded the Fair Play Alliance, a global coalition of over 250 gaming companies. In 2019, they became Co-Founder and AI Developer of Stray Bombay Company, programming an AI system for driving pacing and encouraging cooperative play. Kimberly also joined the Game Developers Conference Advisory Council. In 2021, they were appointed Head of Studio and Director of Production at Brace Yourself Games.

Kimberly Voll holds a PhD in Computer Science from Simon Fraser University, which they completed in 2006. Kimberly also holds a Bachelors, First-class Honours in Cognitive Science from the same university, which they completed in 2001.