The Games Developers Association of Australia (GDAA) has been experiencing some major restructuring of late, the start of which began with Tony Reed being appointed as the new GDAA CEO last year. The latest update is that GDAA President, Tom Crago, is moving on from the role he has taken care of at the association for the last three and a half years, and in his place will be Tony Lawrence, the general manager of 2K Australia (or 2K Marin, if you will).
The GDAA will also be steered by a new committee, the members of which will be announced next week on the GDAA website. Also to be announced will be the new goals that the reformed GDAA will be setting out to achieve.
IGN AU have an interview with Tom Crago about his tenure at the GDAA, why this is the right time for him to move on, and his thoughts on the future of the Australian games industry. From IGN AU...
(Tom Crago) I've always enjoyed the role, even through the challenging times. But ultimately, industry associations work best when the leadership is shared. Two years feels like the right amount of time for a president to serve, so on that basis maybe I stayed a year and a half too long…
Tom plans to continue his position as owner and CEO of Tantalus, and provided IGN AU some final words as the parting GDAA president, including some great news for the Crago household...
(Tom Crago) It really has been an honour to work so closely with this terrific industry over these past few years. I wish I could have done more, but ultimately I know I'm handing over the reins to a strong new leadership team that share my vision for game development in Australia. It will be nice for me to be able to spend some more time focusing on running Tantalus, and to enjoy becoming a father, an event that is due to happen any day now...
tsumea would like to extend our thanks and well wishes to Tom (and wife!), especially for his notable efforts as GDAA President throughout the years, as well as the great support he has provided for the local games industry and tsumea. All tbe best, Tom!