Kate Menz, Program Manager, WIA

With seven years of dedicated service at WIA, Kate Menz serves as Program Manager, leading the renowned WIA Mentorship Circles Program and overseeing WIA's other global programming initiatives. A U.S. Army veteran, Kate began her career as a Cryptologic Linguist. She brings a strong background in strategic communication, operations, and leadership to her work.

Originally from Western New York, Kate brings her passion for connection, mentorship, and growth to every project she manages. Outside of work, she is the proud parent of nine children, balancing a rich family life with a career devoted to empowering others and building inclusive, global networks.

Joan Da Silva, Post Secondary Director, Epic Games

Joan Da Silva is the Post-Secondary Education Director at Epic Games, where he helps schools and creative industries adopt real-time technologies and Unreal Engine.
After founding the pioneering animation and online games studio Artepict in 1997, he worked with major studios including Ubisoft and Rovio (Angry Birds).

He later led two of France’s top digital arts schools,  LISAA Paris and  ARTFX Montpellier, before joining Epic Games to bridge the worlds of  animation, education, and innovation. 

Christina Caspers, Executive Producer Cinesite Group & General Manager Trixter, TRIXTER GmbH

Christina works as General Manager at TRIXTER & Executive Producer of the Cinesite Group. TRIXTER is one of the leading VFX studios in Europe and part of the Cinesite Group. With her team, Christina works primarily for international clients, as well as large scale streaming service providers. In her position, Christina is responsible for the day-to-day business across all ongoing and potential new productions from acquisition to final delivery. As technology in the film and especially post-production industry continues to evolve at an ever increasing speed, and audience watching habits change as well, the use of the most current technology is absolutely essential in order to be at the highest industry standard not only budget-wise but creatively as well. At TRIXTER, Christina is responsible for the evaluation of these latest technologies and their tailored application to each project. Additionally, she serves on the Advisory Board of TechX, Cinesite’s dedicated unit for exploring Generative AI technology.

In addition to her work at Cinesite, Christina is co-founder of IIM (Institute of Immersive Media), an NGO that brings together the creative and technical aspects of film shooting, pre- and post-production in workshops and at film festivals.

Ian Failes, Editor-in-Chief, befores & afters

Ian Failes is a journalist based in Melbourne specialising in visual effects and animation. Ian publishes the industry VFX and animation publication called befores & afters (beforesandafters.com) and an accompanying print magazine. He has written for fxguide, Cartoon Brew, VFX Voice, 3D Artist, 3D World and many other publications. Ian is the author of the books, 'Industrial Light & Magic: 50 Years of Innovation' and ‘Masters of FX’. He holds the world's largest collection of memorabilia from the film Speed.