The members of the managment and advisory team are:
For more about the InteraQuest Philosophy.
Russ Cohen (President & CEO) has 25 years of experience as an innovative architect, designer, developer and implementer of state-of-the-art business software solutions for major corporations like EDS, Del Monte, Varian, Safeway, and Bank of America. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, with a B.S. degree, in Business Administration.
Russ is also the parent of a teen who is learning-challenged with a Non-Verbal Learning Disorder (NLD) and has an Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and is Bi-Polar. He uses much of his spare time working with teachers and therapists to find ways to assist children both academic and interpersonal skills. Russ is a member of the Nonverbal Learning Disorders Association (NLDA) and the Community Advisory Committee on Special Education for the Mt. Diablo Unified School District.
The concept of blending the most immersing principles of engagement of video gaming (Action, Personal Involvement and Play - APIP) with interpersonal skills to create engaging software games focused on positive human values is a direct result of his ongoing work with educators, therapists, and delay-averse learners.
David Shelley (EVP and Design Director) has been a producer and designer at numerous video and computer game companies (Strategic Simulations, Namco, NuvoStudios and Global VR), publishing more than 20 titles. He helped bring the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons license to computer games, creating award winning Role Playing adventures. He designed games for multiple platforms (PC, Playstation, Internet, Phones and Arcade) and in many genres (RPG, action, sports, platform, puzzle and general entertainment).
Dave has two sons with interpersonal skill deficits, one diagnosed with Autism and the other with ADHD. He has chosen to bring his strong technical skills to bear on combining the obvious attraction kids have for video games and the need to provide opportunities to improve social and life skills.
Thomas A. (Tad) Duffy (Chief Operations Officer) brings over twenty-five years of experience in the area of business planning to InteraQuest. Additionally, he provides assistance to the Telecommunications Incubator located in San Ramon, CA, and he has hands-on experience as an owner of three businesses.
Tad holds a Doctorate of Jurisprudence degree from Golden Gate University, an MBA from Xavier University, an MS in engineering from Washington University, and his B S from the University of Detroit. For the past 15 years, he has been an associate professor in the School of Business of Golden Gate University and Diablo Valley College.
Tad is a graduate of the San Ramon Valley Leadership program and a member of the San Ramon Chamber of Commerce. He is heavily involved in the San Ramon Valley Collation on Kids, is a board member of the San Ramon Little League and San Ramon Soccer Club, and is the chief organizer of the Coaches Collation. Tad is the founder of the San Ramon Parent Association - an organization devoted to helping out needy kids.
Dr. Stephen Nowicki, Jr., Ph.D. (Content Advisor on Nonverbal Communication) is a leading research and clinical psychologist in the field of nonverbal communication and its importance in interpersonal relationships.
Dr. Nowicki received his B. A. from Carroll College, his M.S. from Marquette University and his Ph.D. from Purdue University. He completed his clinical psychology internship at Duke University Medical Center. He is the author or over 225 publications and presentations and the co-author of a number of books, including "Teaching Your Child the Language of Social Success", "Helping the Child Who Doesn't Fit In", and "Will I Ever Fit In?: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Adult Dyssemia".
During his thirty years of teaching at Emory University in Atlanta, Dr. Nowicki has served as Director of Clinical Training and Head of the Emory University Counseling Center.
He received two Fullbright awards, has been named a von Humboldt Scholar for research in Germany and a Benjamin Meaker Scholar for research at Bristol University in England.
Dr. Nowicki was a co-recipient of the AAAP Division of the American Psychological Society's award for Applied Researcher of the year in 1997, and he received an Emory Williams Teaching Award and is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Psychology.
A Diplomate in Applied Psychology, he continues to be a consultant to public and private schools and maintains an active clinical practice. He is the consulting editor for the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior.
Debbie Lindstrom, M. S. (Content Advisor on Children and Interpersonal Communication) is a graduate of the Educational Psychology program at the California State University at Hayward. Ms. Lindstrom has served as staff psychologist for the Mt. Diablo Unified School District since 1998.
William Dunn (Lead Technical Design Advisor) is a veteran game designer whose work emphasizes role-playing and AI-driven character behavior. He has a B.A. in Design from Stanford University.
During the 80's Bill focused on paper role-playing games, developing dozens of products for many RPG brands. His most innovative paper game was "Prince Valiant: The Storytelling Game".
In 1990, Bill moved to video games, contributing level and creature designs for "Kid Chameleon" on Sega Genesis®. Since then he has co-designed many games, including RPGs such as "AD&D: Al-Qadim", "The Genie's Curse", and "Alien Logic". He created the unique concept and role-playing focus of the popular and controversial war-game "Panzer General", where the player took on the role of a German general in WWII, attempting to gain military "prestige" and aiming to change the course of history. Bill also coordinated the design of "Silencer", an online sci-fi action / RPG where players battled and gained experience and ranking online as agents of dueling cybernetic factions. More recently, he co-designed several console games featuring advanced AI companions and opponents, including "BattleTanx: Global Assault", "Sarge's Heroes 2", and "Portal Runner", an E-rated fantasy game for kids where the player teamed up with an AI-controlled magical lion.
Currently, Bill is doing consulting, working on an online strategy-RPG, and contributing to the design of the InteraQuest project.
Jason Kaehler (Technical Design Advisor) has been involved in videogames for 12 years. As a CalArts graduate, he has been focused on real-time 3D technologies since early in his career.
While at Disney he was a ride designer and character animator in their virtual reality division where he contributed to numerous projects including the award-winning "Aladdin Magic Carpet Ride". He was also the primary designer and artist involved in "Speedscape", a motion-base racing simulator that received Best of Show at IAAPA in 1994.
In 1999 he co-founded a small development company called Osiris Studios which he grew from 3 partners to 35 employees with gross annual revenue of $4.5m. Osiris published "HBO Boxing" for Acclaim in 2000. Jason's primary area of expertise is motion-capture.
Most recently he has been involved with managing large art teams developing next-generation games for companies like 3DO and Midway Amusement Games.
Gil Colgate (Technical Design Advisor) has been a senior engineer and designer of video games over the last 20 years. He has developed games for many companies including Namco and Bally Mfg. Corp.
Gil's game credits include "Dead To Rights", "Pac-Man World 2", "Ms. Pac-Man", "Maze Madness", and "Pac-Man World" for Namco, "Mutant League Football" for Electronic Arts, "Xenophobe" for Atari, "California Games II" and "California Games" for Epyx.
Kevin Shapiro (Technical Design Advisor) is a software engineering lead who has been programming games since the early 80s. Kevin has developed games for many companies, including Blue Shift, Epyx, The Software Toolworks, Sculptured Software and Acclaim.
Kevin's game credits include Project Manager for "WWF Raw" for Acclaim and as a programmer on "Mario's Time Machine" for The Software Toolworks, producer for "Running Wild", an animal racing game for Universal Interactive, developer on the "Vapor TRX" arcade flying/racing game for Atari, programmer on "Paperboy", "720", "Cyberball", and "Rampart". He was also a collaborator on "Gauntlet", "Millipede", and "Super Sprint". Other titles include "The Hunt for Red October" and "The Rocketeer".
InteraQuest would like to thank Vicky Holifield, illustrator for and Peachtree Publishers, Ltd., publishers of "Teaching Your Child the Language of Social Success" ©1996 and Peachtree Publishers, Ltd., publishers of "Helping the Child Who Doesn't Fit In" ©1992, for their gracious permission to reproduce drawings and diagrams from these books.