The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) Women in Games Special Interest Group, or SIG, has named a new chair: Fiona Cherbak, a human resources executive and marketing professional in the game industry. Cherbak, who will be taking over the position from Heather Kelley (Ubisoft, Montreal), is also a co-founder and advisory board member of Women in Games International.

"For many years, the Women's SIG was just a mailing list and a get-together at GDC," says Jason Della Rocca, the IGDA's executive director, "and I don't want to downplay that, but I think there is opportunity to be more proactive." To some extent, he thinks Cherbak will be the driving force behind that action.

Della Rocca says he sees more opportunities for the SIG to better promote women in the industry, as well as potentially provide research that looks at women in the industry in more detail. Aside from creating "top 20" or "top 100" lists that name influential people in industry, he hopes the IGDA Women's SIG focuses more on role modeling than "ego stroking." For example, he says, there is room for a more formalized mentorship programs and scholarships.

I spoke with Cherbak via email last week to dig deeper into her plans for the group and how she specifically envisions it having an effect on the game industry at large.

Jill Duffy: Jason Della Rocca mentioned that in years past the Women's SIG was a bit passive and served more as a safe space where women could gather to discuss issues about game development, the work place, or just games in general. He said he didn't want to downplay the importance of that function, but at the same time said there is room for the SIG to be more aggressive in its role and believes you will be the driving force. Along these lines, what kinds of goals do you have for the group?

Fiona Cherbak: From a personal perspective, I have a real passion for a set of objectives that we hope to achieve over the long haul with IGDA Women in Games. These goals include encouraging young women to join the games industry, acknowledging when women make significant achievements in games, increasing employment support and exposure opportunities for female game careerists, and developing and implementing activities that promote IGDA Women in Games SIG membership.

A significant step by the IGDA Women in Games SIG before year-end is the introduction of an online mentorship program, partnered by Women in Games International. Other upcoming activities include branded SIG presence at co-partnered events around the world, plus on-going partnerships with complementary organizations. The SIG is also working on cooperative efforts with other SIGs to increase awareness and opportunities in education, diversity hiring, and talent development, and is creating increased opportunities for SIG members to participate in editorial [opportunities], speaking engagements, and other "visibility" activities.

There is a re-design of the IGDA Women in Games web pages and logo underway, along with the planned addition of expanded SIG leadership, including an advisory group and project committees.

JD: How do you envision the Women's SIG will have an effect on the game development industry? What specific things will it do that will have a real affect on game development studios, publishers, and other entities that make up the industry?

FC: Ideally, we have the ability to create impact in several ways, though some not as directly seen or felt as others. For example, by offering women greater opportunity to promote their game industry achievements, we expect that women will use these tools as leverage to advance their own careers. When women are empowered and supported, they become emboldened to take their career reins in hand and drive progress within the industry at a variety of levels, whether as hiring managers, communicators, team players or as industry leaders.

A similar tack is the simple act of producing and presenting educational and networking forums, both virtual and real-time, that provide opportunities for women to further develop their career paths through relationship-building and learning. The more knowledge we gather and the more people we connect with, the more capable we are of imparting worthwhile change in our workplace.