LANFest, dedicated to empowering gaming communities and supporting charitable efforts by creating unique gaming experiences, recently announced the official results of its board elections with Gary Briggs re-elected and Ahman Green, Ruth Suehle and Matt Basta elected to their inaugural term.
Board members, who each serve two-year terms, are voted on by LANFest’s Chapter Council, which is made up of representatives from the 16 LANFest chapters across the nation who have raised $1.2 million for charities across the nation.
“We had more people run for board seats this year than ever before,” said Katie Briggs, president of LANFest. “It’s inspiring to see so many new faces with such diverse backgrounds join LANFest.”
The current LANFest Board Members include:
- Chris Allison
- Matt Basta
- Gary Briggs
- Chris Grassel
- Ahman Green
- Nathan Johnson
- Daniel Rogers
- Ruth Suehle
Gary Briggs Re-Elected to the Board of Directors
Gary Briggs has been involved with LANFest from its inception and has been a strong leader on the board of directors for years.
“I want to help LANFest continue to evolve by helping all our gaming communities create unique gaming experiences that they are excited about,” said Gary.
He looks forward to continuing to grow LANFest through cultivating strong partnerships with sponsors, gaming industry partners, and other charity organizations.
LANFest Welcomes Matt Basta
Matt Basta is currently the director of DKC Esports and he brings a wide array of knowledge in public relations, special events, branding, social media and promotions in the areas of esports, gaming, sports and tech. Its esports and gaming clients include FaZe Clan, Gen.G, Flashpoint, Skillz, VENN and Zenni. He attends numerous esports conferences throughout the year.
“It’s a tremendous honor to be elected by the members of LANFest,” said Basta. “I am ready to roll up my sleeves and immerse myself to achieve our goals moving forward.”
Prior to esports, Matt worked for several global PR agencies including Edelman, Rogers & Cowan, and Ogilvy, and worked in traditional sports including the WNBA, United Soccer League and UMBRO.
LANFest Welcomes Ahman Green
Ahman Green, former Green Bay Packers running back, is the current Head Coach of Esports and Lakeland University in Sheboygan Wisconsin.
He wants to cultivate well-rounded individuals and gamers throughout their college careers, all while keeping it fun, educational and innovative at the same time.
“I want esports and video games to continue to grow in a community where everyone is involved and can develop their talents in a fair environment without discrimination,” said Ahman.”That’s why I’m proud to be a board member of LANFest.”
During Ahman’s football career he earned a four-time pro bowl selection, was named NFC Offensive Player of the Year in 2013 and was inducted to the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame in 2014.
LANFest Welcomes Ruth Suehle
Ruth Suehle is currently senior manager on the community outreach team in Red Hat's Open Source and Standards office. She has been a part of the broader open-source software (and hardware) communities for nearly 15 years.
“I'm looking forward to using my longtime experience in community building in the open source software world to help support such a passionate gaming community with their charitable mission,” said Ruth.
She is also executive vice-president of the Apache Software Foundation, and much of her work with that organization has been through the community development team, including as the producer of ApacheCon.
Through her work at Red Hat, she helped create the open-source special interest group (SIG) in the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) as well as Red Hat's gaming community of practice. She was part of the team that launched opensource.com and has written there on open source in gaming.
LANFest is proud to partner with Intel, ViewSonic, FanAI, AKRacing, Antlion Audio, Cooler Master, Cyber Wurx, Discord, Enermax, FSP, Gamdias, HyperX, InWin, Kingston, Lexar, MSI Gaming, Viper Gaming, Razer, Seagate, Seattle Gummy Company, Steel Series, SuperMicro, Tesoro, TUNAI, ZALMAN and Zotac Gaming.