Who We Are

Michael Angst Founder, Chief Executive Officer

Michael is Founder and CEO of E-Line Media, a publisher of digital entertainment that engages, educates and empowers, with a core focus on computer/video games. E-Line works with leading foundations, academics, non-profits and government agencies to harness the power of games for learning, health, and social impact.

Prior to E-Line, Michael spent several years as a private equity investor with Bluefin Partners, where he focused on enterprises that convey services on a global basis by harnessing the collective strength of highly distributed, independently owned and operated businesses. His investments included Lason, a multi-national outsourcing company that delivers service through over 70 independently owned micro-franchises in India and China (employing over 10,000 people).

Prior to Bluefin Partners, Michael served as the President and Chief Operating Officer of National Healthcare Resources (NHR), a tech-enabled services provider in the insurance sector, where he supervised the growth of the company from an early stage to over $150MM in annual revenue and oversaw the acquisition and integration of over 15 private companies. Michael began his professional career with Salomon Brothers, where he worked for several years as a quantitative analyst developing trading analytics and supporting investment banking transactions.

Michael currently serves as the Chairman of FilmAid International, an international relief organization that has partnered with the United Nations refugee agency and leading global aid organizations to use the power of film and video to bring important information regarding health, security, and other issues to more than 1 million displaced people in places as diverse as Haiti, Kenya, Tanzania, Afghanistan, Macedonia, Thailand and the US Gulf Coast. Michael also serves on the Board of Governors of the We Are Family Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the vision of a “global family” by creating and supporting programs that inspire and educate the next generation about respect, diversity and cultural understanding.

Michael is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in computer science and electrical engineering. He also studied in the graduate film program at NYU, where he produced the award-winning short film work of Jim Taylor (Academy Award winning screenwriter of Sideways) and Keir Pearson (Academy Award nominated screenwriter of Hotel Rwanda). He has produced short films that tackle tough social issues ranging from mental disabilities to gender bias in Eastern cultures. As a theatre producer, Michael has helped mount several socially relevant works, including a New York production of The Investigation by Peter Weiss, which recounts emotional testimony from witnesses and survivors at the Frankfurt Auschwitz war trials.

Alan Gershenfeld Founder, President

Alan has spent the last twenty years at the intersection of entertainment, technology and social entrepreneurship. He is currently Founder and President of E-Line Media, a publisher of digital entertainment that engages, educates and empowers, with a core focus on computer/video games. E-Line works with leading foundations, academics, non-profits and government agencies to harness the power of games for learning, health, and social impact.

Prior to E-Line, Alan spent seven years as CEO and Co-Founder of netomat, a leader in mobile-web community solutions. As CEO, Alan helped to transform a network-based art project into a pioneering software company, raising funding from VCs, strategic investors (Motorola, WPP, Forbes), foundations (Rockefeller's ProVenEx double bottom line fund) and securing clients and partnerships with leading technology and content providers such as Electronic Arts, Warner Brothers, Motorola and Miramax. netomat was selected as a Technology Pioneer at the 2007 World Economic Forum at Davos.

Before netomat, Alan spent six years at Activision, a global leader in entertainment software. He was a member of the executive management team that rebuilt Activision from bankruptcy into a profitable industry leader with more than a billion dollars in revenue. At Activision, Alan served as Senior Vice President of Activision Studios where he supervised all product development at the company's Los Angeles studios. Titles released under Alan's leadership include Civilization: Call to Power, Asteroids, Muppet Treasure Island, Spycraft, Pitfall, Zork and Tony Hawk Skateboarding.

Before Activision, Alan spent nearly ten years in the film industry where he worked in development, production and post-production with credits on numerous feature films and documentaries. As a writer, Alan was a film critic for the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong and co-author of Game Plan, a book about the computer and video game business published by St. Martin's Press. His articles and photographs have been published in numerous magazines and newspapers including the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Filmmaker Magazine, Cinema India-International and Bowler's Journal.

As a speaker, Alan has presented at a wide variety of conferences throughout the world including PC Forum, South By South West, Sundance Film Festival, Games for Change, CTIA, Teach For America, Game Developers Conference, National Writers Workshop,, MIT Fab Lab Conference, Milia/Cannes, LAX Conference, Game, Learning & Society, ISTE, SoCap, NASBE, NCTE, Game On Texas, e-virtuoses France, ICE/Toronto, Serious Games Korea and the World Economic Forum at Davos. Alan has also led game design workshops throughout the world for students, teachers, parents and policy makers, most recently at the invitation of the White House for the winners of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.

Alan serves on the Board of Directors of FilmAid International, a nonprofit that uses film and video to empower refugees throughout the world and on the Advisory Boards of PBS Kids Next Generation Media, Creative Capital, Startl, Global Kids, We Are Family Foundation and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center For Educational Media and Research (Sesame Workshop). He is also on the Advisory Board and former Chairman of Games for Change, a nonprofit committed to rising the sector of social impact computer and video games.

Rick Daley Chief Technology Officer

Rick has nearly thirty years of experience as a software engineer and engineering manager. In the mid 80's, Rick led the effort at Apple to enable Macintosh software applications to run on Apple's first commercial UNIX operating system. In the early 90's, he was the lead engineer in a group at the investment bank Salomon Brothers, where he helped produce a fault-tolerant real-time messaging system used to share data between traders, the sales force and the firm's clients. In the late 90's, Rick was an early member of WebTV, where he was the architect for the group that built the WebTV service. He left WebTV in 2000, after helping to integrate the WebTV service into Microsoft following Microsoft's acquisition of WebTV. In 2000, Rick became EVP of Engineering at National Healthcare Resources (NHR), where he led NHR's successful software-as-a-service business.

Brian Alspach EVP, General Manager - Gamestar Mechanic

Brian brings over ten years of experience as an executive and consultant specializing in the development of early-stage businesses, web-meets-world services and new media. Prior to joining the E-Line Team, he spent several years with Verus Partners, a private equity advisory firm, where he specialized in the development of custom technology platforms integrating electronic and real-world workflows. His projects included Lason, a multi-national outsourcing company that delivers service through over 70 independently owned micro-franchises in India and China (employing over 10,000 people). Prior to this, he served in several technology and operational rolls (including divisional Vice President of Operations) at Concentra, a national healthcare services provider with over $1B in revenue.

His work as a writer and digital filmmaker has appeared at such venues as the Philadelphia Fringe Festival and at Yankee Stadium during the MLB playoffs. He also mentors young people in the areas of digital media creation and serves as an advisor to early-stage and youth-created businesses. Brian received his Bachelor's degree in English from The College of New Jersey.

Charles Amis Game Design Lead

In all his creative work, Charles strives to bring artistic media together to give the audience an unforgettable experience. His interest in multidisciplinary storytelling led him to his Master's degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU. Excited by the storytelling and story creating power of games, Charles began working professionally as a game designer in 2006 at Gamelab where he helped design Bravo's official Top Chef video game. Since then, he has worked on a broad range of games including casual PC titles, collectible card games, board games, and sports. In his spare time, he makes and plays games such as Chamball, a sport he invented in 2009.

John Boeck SVP, Online Operations

John is an operating executive with significant sales, technology, and operations experience. Prior to E-Line, John spent several years with Verus Partners, a private equity advisory firm, where he specialized in the development of custom technology platforms integrating electronic and real-world workflows. His projects included Lason, a multi-national outsourcing company that delivers service through over 70 independently owned micro-franchises in India and China (employing over 10,000 people). Prior to Verus Partners, John served as the Chief Information Officer of National Healthcare Resources (NHR), a healthcare services provider. Following its acquisition of NHR, John served as a divisional CIO of Concentra, a national healthcare services provider with over $1B in revenue, where he supervised $15MM in earnings growth for a $200MM highly-distributed division through technological and operational transformation.

John began his professional career as the founder of Mutex Software, a technology consultancy serving the financial services industry, where he spent 10 years architecting and developing trading, investment banking and back-office systems for Salomon Brothers, Lehman Brothers, Wagner-Stott, and Goldman Sachs. John graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with degrees in computer science engineering and economics.

Michael Gi Associate Game Designer

Michael has dreamed of working in the game industry since his early days of gaming. He has played games ranging from the PC, to consoles, to collectible cards and even tabletop miniatures. Michael spent two summers working at Internal Drive Technology Camps teaching kids how to design and create their own games using various software. He has now been working on Gamestar Mechanic for over a year, working on tasks ranging from design to testing to even community management. Michael is a graduate from Stony Brook University with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and a specialization in Game Design.

Ian Gil Artist; User Experience Lead

Ian graduated with honors from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study in January 2010. He concentrated on “Experience”, and found that it pretty much is what you make of it. What he's making of it lately: comic books, drawings, paintings, websites, and travel plans.

Ian briefly interned for E-Line a few years ago, and once he was out of school they lured him back with promises of power and fame.

Katya Hott Learning Content Producer

Katya is working on her Masters in Educational Technology at New York University. Her background is in linguistics and English as a Second Language. For four years she taught ESL in classrooms around the world. Now, Katya is combining her studies in education with her passion for technology and games. She aims to work with teachers and students on incorporating and embracing games in their classrooms. When not gaming or designing curriculum, Katya assumes her alter-ego as Bgirl Gypsy, a breakdancer.

Joey Manley President, E-Line Comics

Joey has been working in online entertainment since 1996, when he was hired as the original Director of Free Speech Internet Television, which won a Webby Award in 1999. From 2000 - 2002 Joey served as Vice-President, Interactive for Streaming Media, Inc. In 2002, he launched Modern Tales, the first of several webcomics-themed sites he would launch in subsequent years, including WebcomicsNation and Graphic Smash. In 2007, Joey and Josh Roberts co-founded ComicSpace LLC. Joey is also the author of one novel, The Death of Donna-May Dean, published by St. Martin's Press in 1991.

Scott Price VP, Product Manager - Gamestar Mechanic

Scott has spent his professional life trying to make computers work for people by helping people play with computers. He helped the Math Forum to create digital manipulatives for math students and built an IT Department during 6 years as teacher, dean, and IT Coordinator at Exploration Summer Programs before entering the game industry. In the last six years, he has done QA testing with Scholastic, Inc.; tested four games and produced four more for New York game development studio Gamelab; produced environments and campaigns within Sony Online Entertainment's Home virtual world; managed the creation of a social network and related apps for the Institute of Play and the Quest 2 Learn school; and brought Gamestar Mechanic from beta to launch.

Kerri Schlottman VP, Business & Partnership Development

Kerri has provided fundraising support, business development and strategic planning for cultural and social organizations and institutions in the nonprofit and for-profit sectors for more than eleven years. She has worked extensively with national educational organizations through her previous role as Associate Executive Director of External Relations for the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, which facilitates the prestigious Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. In addition, her work has supported emerging and professional artists, cultural innovation projects and community building initiatives in New York City and internationally in collaboration with well-known institutions. Prior to her role in fundraising and business development, Kerri worked in the advertising industry in Detroit for major companies such as McCann-Erickson and BBDO where she supported the automotive sector through marketing, editing and creative production. Kerri holds a Master’s degree in Visual Culture from Wayne State University in Detroit and sits on the board of directors for Kids in Conflict, an NGO in South Africa that provides conflict resolution in potentially volatile domestic situations. She is also a creative writer and has published novels through indie publishers in New York City and Detroit.

Kai Skye Game Programmer

Kai has immersed himself in game programming and online entertainment for nearly a decade. He graduated from Stony Brook University with a BA in Computer Science and a specialization in Game Programming. His career began at Gamelab where he worked with experienced game professionals to publish an online Flash minigame for kids. Later, he worked at media publishing company Working Library to create games for Sony's Playstation Home environment and the iPhone platform. Currently he develops the Flash front-end for E-Line's educational game title Gamestar Mechanic. Aside from Gamestar, Kai enjoys using a variety of modern programming languages to create small casual games and web pages.

Tim Tournay Developer

Before joining E-Line, Tim worked as a contractor creating military simulation software to help soldiers better deal with social situations in the Middle East. He then spent a year working for NATO at their programming center in The Hague, Netherlands helping to enhance software for NATO activities. He traded his war games for peace games in 2006 by joining ImpactGames to be the lead software developer for the critically acclaimed Israeli-Palestinian conflict resolution game PeaceMaker and went on to lead the development of the news-gaming platform PlayTheNews. Tim received his BA in Computer Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.

Sun Yang Artist; Narrative Lead

Growing up in Korea, Sun learned how to read and write through comic books. With her first NES system, she gained a sense of direction (which might not have been the best tutor since she gets lost easily while reading maps). Sun delayed her plan of eloping to the realm of comic art to study Illustration at Parsons School of Design. After getting her BFA, she joined Gamelab, working on critically acclaimed, award-winning projects such as Miss Management, Bob the Builder: Can Do Zoo and Bravo's Top Chef: The Game.