John Welch: President and Chief Executive Officer

John Welch is a co-founder and the President and CEO of PlayFirst, a leading publisher focused on creating shared casual game experiences around lasting original brands. One of the most visible figures in the casual games industry today, John is responsible for the strategic direction of the company.

Prior to forming PlayFirst, John spent five years at Shockwave.com (now owned by Viacom) as the company's Vice President of Games and Product where he drove the product strategy and acquisitions for the site. John helped build Shockwave.com into one of the Internet's top games portals and discovered some of the top independent game developers in the world. Before Shockwave, John worked at SEGA where he led the specification effort for the Sega Dreamcast Network. He has also served as a steering committee member of the International Game Developers Association's (IGDA) Online Games and Casual Games groups. John launched his career as a systems integration consultant at Andersen Consulting, then co-founded his own firm which specialized in enterprise solutions.

John holds a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics with Computer Science from MIT and a Master's Degree in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts.

Brad Edelman: Chief Technology Officer

Brad Edelman, co-founder and CTO of PlayFirst, is responsible for setting the company's technical strategy and driving the creation of its platform and products, including Playground SDK™, PlayFirst's casual game development framework. With a lifetime of software development experience ranging from Apple II video games to Internet video, Brad has a proven ability to deliver world-class software products.

Prior to forming PlayFirst, Brad was a Principal Engineer at Macromedia (now Adobe) where he was a key architect on several of the company's flagship products, including Flash Player, Shockwave Player, Breeze Live, Flash Communication Server and Shockmachine. Brad is also the founder of Uccello Games, a successful game development studio and creator of the critically acclaimed game "Triclops". Additionally, he was a key contributor to Adobe's innovative and award-winning PageMill Web site development software.

Brad holds twelve patents and a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Kenny Shea Dinkin: Vice President and Creative Director

Kenny Shea Dinkin serves as Vice President and Creative Director of Playfirst, Inc. where he drives the game portfolio's aesthetic sensibilities directing game design, art, audio, character, and story development for all PlayFirst games including the inventive, top-selling Diner Dash, Chocolatier, Dream Chronicles & Nightshift Code brands. As one of the first management team members at PlayFirst, he oversaw game production as Executive Producer for the first 24 PlayFirst Titles. Kenny brings over a decade of success in consumer technology where he has designed, produced and directed design on a wide array of award-winning consumer products and interactive platforms.

Prior to joining PlayFirst, Kenny was the worldwide head of product design for The Learning Company/Broderbund, where he was creative director for a portfolio of premiere children's software brands, including Reader Rabbit, Carmen Sandiego, and KidPix as well as licensed properties including Scooby-Doo, Strawberry Shortcake, Batman, Powerpuff Girls, and Arthur. A visual artist, writer, musician, game designer, and avid comic book reader, Kenny was also the co-creator of the critically acclaimed, top-selling brand The ClueFinders.

Kenny earned a Bachelor's degree in History from Brown University and an M.F.A. in Visual Arts from the University of Pennsylvania's School of Design.

Rich Roberts: Vice President of Sales and Business Development

As Vice President of Sales and Business Development, Rich oversees the overall sales and distribution strategy for PlayFirst games. With nearly twenty years of sales, business development, marketing, and licensing experience in leading consumer entertainment and software companies, Rich was one of the first industry leaders to determine how to digitally distribute traditional entertainment brands. He brings a strong track record in identifying emerging business models and exceeding long-term profit goals.

Prior to joining PlayFirst, Rich was Vice President of Digital Distribution at Atari, where he built the digital distribution business for Atari and Hasbro games. His responsibilities included the planning and implementing of Atari's direction into the broadband distribution channels, as well as publishing and distributing new games for the casual online gaming channel. Rich helped propel the casual games industry by establishing a new publishing business for the casual games channel and built new revenue streams for Atari and Hasbro brands through games on demand and download sales programs. Prior to Atari, Rich managed a profitable distribution sales team and directed the launch of over 200 software titles for Simon & Schuster/Macmillan. He has also held sales and account management positions with Berkeley Systems, Alpha Software, WordStar International, and others.

Rich holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Stonehill College.

Bruce Sherrod: Vice President of Engineering

Bruce Sherrod has 12 years of experience as a senior technologist in the games industry. As vice president of engineering, Bruce oversees site engineering for PlayFirst's web properties.

Prior to his work at PlayFirst, Bruce was a lead architect at Perpetual Entertainment where he authored enterprise server architecture and core game technologies for massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG). Previously, Bruce served as a technical lead at The Learning Company where he worked on a wide range of titles such as the strategy game Panzer General 3D and the games in the popular Petz series, Catz IV and Dogz IV.

Bruce holds a MSCS from the University of California at Santa Cruz and a Bachelor's of Computer Science and Mathematics from Carnegie Mellon.

Brad Simon: Vice President and General Counsel

As Vice President and General Counsel, Brad oversees legal matters for PlayFirst, including all aspects of the company's intellectual property portfolio. At PlayFirst, Brad is also involved in business development and strategic corporate issues. In addition, Brad is adjunct professor at U.C. Berkeley (Boalt Hall) School of Law, where he teaches video game law.

Prior to PlayFirst, Brad worked as an intellectual property and technology attorney at Thelen, Reid & Priest. Brad joined the pioneering international Internet consulting company Organic, Inc. and became its Senior Counsel where he worked on Organic's IPO, negotiated several multi-million dollar deals with high-profile clients, served on the company's change management team, provided counsel on internet and advertising law, and implemented intellectual property training. As Senior Director of Legal, Business, and Intellectual Property Affairs at AtomShockwave Corp., Brad oversaw the merger of Shockwave.com, Inc. with Atom Corporation (AtomFilms), guided the company in its subsequent restructuring, and performed or supervised others in performing the full range of legal services required by the company.

Brad holds a J.D. from U.C. Berkeley (Boalt Hall) School of Law and an L.L.M. from Harvard Law School where he focused on international law and negotiation. Brad holds additional degrees from Brown University (B.A.) and University College London (M.Sc.). He has served on the board of a youth AIDS organization and currently serves on the International Advisory Committee of PIIPA, Inc., a non-profit that provides intellectual property-related legal assistance to groups in developing countries.

Glenn Mulvaney: Vice President of IT Operations

As Vice President of IT Operations, Glenn oversees all aspects of PlayFirst's computing and network operations, including the infrastructure behind PlayFirst's web properties. Glenn has almost 15 years of experience in the games and IT sectors.

Prior to his role at PlayFirst, Glenn held positions at Workstream, where he created remote and on-site enterprise software hosting solutions for Fortune 500 financial services clients, and Xtime, where he designed and launched an enterprise software hosting center and on-site application hosting for Fortune 500 clients. Glenn also played an instrumental role at SEGA by designing and deploying the infrastructures for PC and console gaming communities such as Heat.net and the Dreamcast Network.

Glenn attended the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania, where he managed computing resources for two large research labs focused on high-speed networking, computer graphics, and applied robotics.

Board of Directors

The PlayFirst Board of Directors includes the two co-founders, John Welch and Brad Edelman, as well as the following investors and strategic advisors.

Janice Roberts, Managing Director, Mayfield

Janice Roberts is a Managing Director of Mayfield and PlayFirst board member. She is a seasoned venture capitalist with years of experience in operations and marketing. Janice currently serves on the boards of several other venture-backed start-ups, including Aliph, Convedia, MobileWay, Peribit Networks and Ubicom. Prior to joining Mayfield in June 2000, Janice built a successful and synergistic early-stage investment portfolio for 3Com Corp. and led 3Com's Global Marketing and Business Development Operations. She also spearheaded several new business initiatives for 3Com, including its highly successful Palm Computing subsidiary. For more information about Mayfield: www.mayfield.com.

Gus Tai, General Partner, Trinity Ventures

Gus Tai is a General Partner at Trinity Ventures and PlayFirst board member. He currently serves on the Boards of Aventail, Blue Nile (NILE), Modulus Video and Amalfi Semiconductor. In addition to these companies, he was part of the team responsible for Trinity's investments in BackWeb (BWEB), FatBrain (FATB), Invio Software, KIVA Software and Network Alchemy. Prior to joining Trinity, Gus worked at Bain & Company, where he consulted with technology firms on business strategy and new product development. He joined Bain from Digital Equipment Corp.'s Alpha Microprocessor Division, where he was an engineering and business development manager. For more information about Trinity Ventures: www.trinityventures.com.

Nate Redmond, Partner, Rustic Canyon Partners

Nate Redmond is a Partner at Rustic Canyon Partners, where he focuses on Internet/media and Cleantech. Before joining Rustic Canyon, Mr. Redmond managed investments and advisory work for Professor Clayton Christensen at the Harvard Business School. Previously, Mr. Redmond co-founded an Internet infrastructure company and helped launch two other early web companies. Mr. Redmond began his career with the Boston Consulting Group as a consultant to technology firms on new product development and business strategy. Mr. Redmond received his M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School and holds two degrees (M.S.E. and B.S.E.) from The University of Michigan College of Engineering, where he was an Entrepreneurial Fellow in the Engineering Global Leadership Honors Program. For more information about Rustic Canyon: www.rusticcanyon.com.