The Selection Committee is excited to announce the Board of NISEI! Before we get into that, there are a couple of important things we’d like to talk about. For starters, it was amazing reading over all the applications and seeing all the enthusiasm, energy and good ideas that the community is bringing to the table (even if it made the process of deciding difficult). We feel more excited now than ever, and are confident that we are leaving Project NISEI in great hands.

To those of you who weren’t selected: it’s important to remember that for every position we felt we had multiple candidates we would be happy with. Netrunner is going to need more than just these 8 people if we want the project to succeed. We hope to see everyone who didn’t get selected for lead (and many of those who didn’t apply) pitching in to make Netrunner a continually lovely game and community.

Additionally, we would like to thank those of you who raised diversity concerns about the initial committee and application process for doing so. Having read through all the answers to these applications it was truly heartening to see how important inclusivity and diversity in Netrunner was to so many people, and it really hammered home how crucial it was that we asked these questions. How welcoming Netrunner is to people of diverse backgrounds is one of the things we are most proud of, and even though we can always improve we feel that this will continue to be a core strength of the community moving forward.

Finally, we’d like to thank everyone on the acting NISEI staff who has put in their time and effort to get us to this point – we wouldn’t be here without you.

Now, onto your NISEI Board.

President – Zac Bauermeister – He/Him – Seattle, WA (@zac)

All the NISEI applications were full of smart, driven and creative people, but ultimately we need someone to organize and guide that energy. Zac has an extensive history managing successful projects both professionally and non-professionally, and he talked at length about how he would organize the NISEI effort. It’s a hard task, but we were impressed with his vision and ability to work with others, and we believe he can lead Netrunner and NISEI onto a great future.

Lead Designer – Gregory Tongue – He/Him – Cleveland, OH (@crithitd20)

Reading through all the card designs people sent us was one of our favorite parts of the application process, and Greg’s were some  of the best. He showed commitment to keeping it simple both in designs and stated principles, which will be a key part of keeping future cards in control. Finally, he demonstrated thoughtfulness and the ability to manage and coordinate a design team which will be necessary for the success of the difficult task of designing new cycles of cards.

Diversity Coordinator – Alice Rees – They/Them – Edinburgh, UK (@shanodin)

The diverse cast of Netrunner characters is often stated as one of the highlights of Netrunner and we think this translates into inclusiveness in the community. Alice has fought to make Netrunner inclusive for as long as she has been around. On top of that, she’s shown a strong commitment to growing her understanding of more and more issues that people face. She’s demonstrated a willingness to listen to others and work with them, and we believe with Alice in charge, the Netrunner’s community inclusiveness will continue to be a point of pride for us all.

Community Manager – Serenity Westfield – She/Her – Bedford, UK (@swearyprincess)

We had so many great applications for Community Manager, because, well, Netrunner has a great community. Serenity, however,  stood out as someone with plenty of experience managing large communities and showed how much she had thought about keeping  the community enthused and engaged. She has amazing vision of where the community can go combined with an attention to nuts-and-bolts details about keeping things going that will serve us well. We all look forward to the long and healthy future for our community under her leadership.

Organized Play Manager – Austin Mills – They/Them/He/Him – Detroit, MI (@icecoldjazz)

We all have great memories of Netrunner tournaments, and they’ve been some of the greatest social events of our years. With Austin in charge of Organized Play, we’re sure that will continue. He’s directed the tournament body of Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn, and demonstrated all that he had learned from this in his application. He talked in great detail and has a very feasible vision on how to keep Netrunner events going, and has also demonstrated his ability to work with others to ensure success  moving forward. We can’t wait for him to reveal his plans for Organized Play and we’re looking forward to participating in NISEI tournaments moving forward.

Rules Manager – Jade Morris – They/Them – Seattle, WA (@jakodrako)

When we sent out the application for Rules Manager and asked people to tell us a rules interaction we didn’t know, we assumed no one could. We were wrong. It was fascinating reading all the things the people obsessed with the rules of the game came up with, and to nobody’s surprise Jacob revealed a truly impressive grasp of Netrunner’s rules as well as a solid understanding of how to make them more accessible to  the less rules-obsessed among us. He’s well known to all of us, having hounded Lukas on Twitter over rules inconsistencies until FFG eventually gave up and just asked him to tell them what the rules are. We look forward to the clarity and consistency he can bring to future rules.

Creative Director – Holly Chandler – She/Her – Atlanta, GA (@breakonebarrier)

Netrunner is full of creative people, and many of us have custom alt arts produced by the community we treasure. However, one of the most impressive feats of creative energy we’ve seen is Holly’s Watchdog campaign, a fully fleshed out narrative campaign in the vein of Terminal Directive. Holly’s application and ideas were full of creativity and vision, and we look forward to everything she can accomplish when given even more resources to succeed and guide all the creative energy our community has to offer.

Lead Developer – David Withington – He/Him – Christchurch, NZ (@divadus)

David has been a Netrunner playtester for a long time, and is one of the hardest working and dedicated people on the team. He’s showed a strong grasp of the top level of the game, having had many great showings at New Zealand nationals (and a strong top 32 finish the one time he ventured literally to the opposite end of the Earth). Everyone who works with him says he is a great communicator who works well with others, and he articulated  a clear vision about how to structure the development process moving forward. We think he’ll be able to lead Netrunner into a well balanced and fun future, and we look forward to seeing all the results of his work.

These are your NISEI Board members, and we hope everyone else is as excited to see what they can accomplish as we are. It’s been a pleasure working on this and it was wonderful to see how many wonderful people are in the Netrunner community and want to make it last and grow moving forward.

– The NISEI Selection Committee