Mayor

Benjamin is no one of consequence who grew up in a small town that is 100 miles from everything but 25 miles from anything. Aside from being a 20+ year member of the Candy Mafia, he strives to help others be the mayor of their community. Living outside Philadelphia, he has an 8 year old German Shepherd who is snoring as he types this. He can be found on Twitter as @sumfatkid.

Managing Director

Heather is a Philadelphia based board game designer and freelance consultant focusing on the business of games. She is also the CEO of 9th Level Games, a small tabletop publisher of board game and roleplaying games. Heather is a lead member of the Game Maker’s Guild of Philadelphia. Heather is an avid game player, tennis player and cat lover! Who you can find on Twitter @catphysicist and 9th Level Games @9thlevelgames on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch and TikTok.

The Guide

Suzanne Kabrt-Zinsli is a game designer, developer, publisher, blogger, and podcaster. She's the co-founder of Cardboard Edison, which offers resources and tools for board game designers. Among her many projects, she runs the annual Cardboard Edison Award, which recognizes great unpublished games. She also co-hosts the Immersed podcast exploring the stories behind board games, and she's the co-designer of several games including Ceylon and Cobras. Suzanne has helped develop dozens of titles and leads the publishing arm of her company. Her passion lies in helping designers achieve their goals.

Technomancer

TAM’s passion for creating games started at the age of 10 when he created board games to play with family and friends. He eventually moved onto developing digital games, which led to a career in software development. An engineer, artist, and entrepreneur, he founded Neuronic Games with the goal of creating playful and engaging educational technologies. In addition to making board games, he dabbles in photography, and dances the Argentine tango. Tam can be found on Twitter @tamatplay

Administrative Nonpareil / Unpub Stepdad

Tuesday Badell is a maelstrom of kindness and snark. All of eir games are unpublished, with no plans to pitch or self-publish at this time. E can usually be found at any convention networking, running a registration desk, or delivering coffee and snacks to those too indentured to feed themselves. E is in eir most natural element when working on a spreadsheet while binge-watching a horror tv series with three cats in eir lap.

Dave Chalker is the award-winning game designer of Get Bit!, Thunder Road: Vendetta, and the Sentinel Comics RPG, as well as Unpub alumni Heat and Thief's Market. He has over 20 years of game industry experience, during which time he's playtested for dozens of companies, and has a master's degree in publications. He lives in Maryland with his wife and three cocker spaniels.

Kellen lives in central Ohio and manages a maker space within a public library. Within the gaming world, he dabbles in design and works with Unpub to help others make their games better. He has been a judge for the Cardboard Edison Award since 2022. When not doing gaming things, he watches a lot of movies and makes wheel thrown pottery. You can find out more about him and how to contact him at kellenfreeman.com.

Beneeta Kaur is Maryland-based tabletop games industry content creator and freelancer. She loves Animal Crossing, tear-inducingly spicy food, and talking about the importance of good sunscreen. You can find Beneeta on Twitch, Twitter & Tik Tok at @beneeta_k.

Raven McKenzie is a game designer based in Michigan. She draws on her love of food and passion for travel in most realms of her life, from her game designs to her career in international education and her ever-growing reading list.

Danielle is an LGBTQ+ New England based board game designer and developer. She is the current Project Director for Wacky Wizard Games and host of the podcast Game Design Unboxed: Inspiration to Publication. Danielle is a part of many groups including Tabletop Gaymers, UNPUB, TTGDA (Tabletop Game Designers Association), Young Inventor Challenge and Board Game Besties. When she’s not gaming she’s rock climbing, traveling, creating art or hanging with her cats. You can find her on Twitter, Instagram and BlueSky under the username @tokengaymer.

If Ken’s job can be “just beach” by doing nothing, then Jess “pools” by doing everything. She may have started gaming later in life, but she brings serious, Max Goodwin “How can I help?" energy to every playtest. Through Legacy of Play, she is Eleanor to Schoon’s Chidi solving the gaming world’s mysteries one at a time. Together they have been on the Unpub Advisory Board since 2022. Since she still doesn’t have a published game, she fits right in.

If Schoon is walking somewhere that isn't his hometown of Baltimore, you can bet he's looking for three things: regional food, used books, and every single Friendly Local Game Store. He treats them like holy sites, or collects them like Pokémon, or something.

At both Unpub Prime and our partner shows, you'll see him wandering around and talking to various designers, artists, and publishers. He and Jess make games as Legacy of Play, and he can be found online @Schoonology, including at schoonology.com.

Ian Zang has worked in the board game industry in design and development for nearly 10 years. He recently formed the company Gravitation Games, focusing on creating games that bring people into our hobby.