Bio

Kate is a unique hybrid of an applied geographer, writer, and content culturalization strategist with a passion for global cultures and media technologies. With broad experience in the fields of geography, cartography, geopolitics and cross-cultural issues, Kate is a recognized thought leader in applying this knowledge to 'real world'​ business solutions and problem solving, particularly in the information industry as related to inclusive representation, content management, and cross-cultural impacts of information and globalization. As Microsoft’s geopolitical strategist in the internal geopolitical strategy team she created (’92-’05) and now as an independent consultant in her company Geogrify, she pioneered the field of digital content ''culturalization''​ to identify geopolitical and cultural risks and opportunities in corporate products and services. Kate applies her expertise to a broad range of issues related to multinational corporate activity in local markets. Kate is perhaps better known for her culturalization work in the video game industry, and her award-winning industry advocacy efforts - including her former roles as Executive Director of the Global Game Jam (2019-2022) and as Executive Director of the International Game Developers Association (2012-2017). During her time at Microsoft and since, she's worked on many game franchises, including Halo, Fable, Age of Empires, Dragon Age, Modern Warfare, Mass Effect and many others. She's also the founder of the IGDA's Localization SIG and co-organizer of the former Localization Summit at GDC. Kate has been a columnist for MultiLingual Computing magazine since 2005 and she plans to publish a culturalization handbook for game developers in the near future (possibly by 2023). Subject matter expertise in geopolitics, cartography, content culturalization, policy making, corporate cultures, negotiation with governments, crisis management, geopolitical training, cross-cultural competence, advocacy, political engagement, non-profit management