Overview

Interactive Ontario’s AI Committee is committed to closely monitoring industry trends related to AI and fostering important conversations regarding its use within the creative tech sector.

Committee Chair

  • Zina Rahman

    Zina Rahman

    She/Her

    CEO & Co-Founder, Transitional Forms • Board Co-Chair

    Zina Rahman is the Co-Founder and CEO of Transitional Forms, a Toronto-based emergent entertainment studio where AI and interactive storytelling converge. With a career spanning storytelling, interactive media, and emerging technology, her work includes Simia, a patented platform where audiences shape narratives in real time, recognized by TechCrunch Disrupt Battlefield 200, a Webby Honoree for Experimental Innovation, and a Silver winner at the Collision Awards.

    Her previous work has earned a GDC Best in Play win and a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Video Game. A frequent speaker at cultural and governmental forums including Google Canada and the City of Toronto, she is an active contributor to public policy discussions shaping the future of AI and creative industries. As Board Co-Chair at Interactive Ontario, she supports the organization's strategic leadership and sector development, and co-leads IO's AI Committee, helping establish its mandate as the sector evolves. She also serves on the Curating Board of XP Game Summit.
  • Rob Elsworthy

    Rob Elsworthy

    He/Him

    Game Director, Resistr Interactive • Committee Co-Chair

    Rob Elsworthy is a highly accomplished professional in the media industry, with an impressive career spanning two decades. With over 15 years of experience in the Games industry, he has worked on a variety of acclaimed projects, including Metal Gear Solid, Max Payne, Grand Theft Auto, and Red Dead Redemption, bringing his expertise as an Animator, VFX Artist, Director and Game Designer. With a mission to promote diversity and social awareness in the gaming industry, Rob founded his own videogame company, Resistr Interactive. Additionally, he currently serves as the Program Director for Video Game Design and Animation at Toronto Film School.

    Beyond his professional work, Rob's dedication to inspiring the next generation of game creators is evident in his role as a speaker, panelist, and advisory board member for various workshops and events, including Tedx, Interactive Ontario, CODEX and the Black Youth Design Initiative. Through his involvement, he seeks to empower aspiring game creators to pursue their dreams and drive positive change in the industry.

Committee Members

  • Jeffrey Elliott

    Jeffrey Elliott

    He/Him

    CEO, TableRock Media • Board Chair

    Jeffrey Elliott has over thirty years of strategic and creative experience in broadcasting, production, and digital media – and always at the forefront of emerging technologies in broadcasting and new-media and is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of TableRock Media. Jeffrey was also the founder and CEO of GlassBOX Television. Glassbox Television became one of Canada’s leading multiplatform media companies. One of GlassBOX channels; Bite TV, the world’s first Interactive and multiplatform television channel, was awarded an International Emmy for Interactive Broadcasting and won the best in Cross Platform Broadcasting at the DIGIS (Canadian New Media Awards).

    Glassbox Television was purchased in 2012 by Blue Ant Media. In 2015 Jeffrey received the Digital Media Trailblazing Award by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. Jeffrey lives in the country with his family and tries to find as much time for his passions of photography and flying, having been a pilot for thirty years.

  • Lucie Lalumière

    She/Her

    President & CEO •

    Winner of the inaugural WIFT+ Digital Trailblazer Crystal Award, Lucie Lalumière is the President & CEO of Interactive Ontario (IO), the trade association representing Ontario’s interactive entertainment sector ( video games, XR). She brings extensive executive and entrepreneurial experience in interactive digital media, having led award-winning teams and held senior roles at MediaLinx Sympatico, CBC/Radio-Canada, Corus Entertainment, supersonic MINDS, and as Founder of Lalumiere Media.

    A passionate advocate for the techno-creative sector, Lucie is dedicated to strengthening Ontario and Canada’s global competitiveness and fostering leading-edge careers. She serves on the board of the Canadian Interactive Alliance / L’Alliance Interactive Canadienne (CIAIC) and contributes to several advisory committees. Lucie holds a B.Sc. in Management Information Systems from Université de Sherbrooke, an MBA from McGill University completed at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, and a Certificate in AI for CEOs from the Vjal Institute.
  • Mary Sorrenti

    Mary Sorrenti

    She/Her

    Vice President, Game Pill • Committee Chair

    As Vice President of Game Pill, Mary oversees finance, business affairs and production, ensuring her teams stay motivated, and client care remains paramount. As a CPA, Mary spent the first half of her career providing business and tax advice to some of Canada’s most successful enterprises before finding her place in the interactive space in 2011. She has over 15 years of experience leading teams and managing projects from concept to final deliverables. Mary has a love for learning and is always looking to get involved. She has earned a producer certificate, sits on Interactive Ontario’s board of directors, and chairs its Advocacy Committee, helping ensure that the IDM industry has a strong voice.

  • Max Rothschild

    Max Rothschild

    He/Him

    Partner, Stohn Hay Cafazzo Heim Finlay LLP • Secretary

    Max practises in the areas of entertainment, music, digital media and intellectual property law. He assists with transactional matters, intellectual property enforcement, and by providing strategic and general copyright law advice. Max works with a wide range of clients, including emerging and established artists and performers, music publishers and record labels, copyright collectives, and other entities in the creative industries. With experience both as in-house counsel and in private practice, Max brings a practical and business-oriented perspective to legal matters.

  • Ramona Pringle

    Ramona Pringle

    She/Her

    Professor, TMU RTA School of Media; Director, The Creative Innovation Studio •

    Ramona Pringle is an Associate Professor in the RTA School of Media at TMU University (formerly Ryerson University,) and Director of The Creative School’s Innovation Studio, a creative network comprised of multiple incubators, including the Transmedia Zone, Design Fabrication Zone, and Fashion Zone, as well as the Global Campus Studio, a unique digital studio devoted to fostering international co-productions through the use of contemporary collaboration tools.

    She is the 2021 recipient of the President's Award for Excellence in Teaching. As a writer, producer, researcher and journalist, Ramona's work examines the evolving relationship between humans and technology. She was the executive producer of "Communities Create," writer and director of the interactive documentary "Avatar Secrets, the interactive producer of PBS Frontline's "Digital Nation." Ramona was editor in chief of "Rdigitalife," has edited and guest edited several "IEEE" publications, and has been a technology columnist for CBC, tackling current affairs and the impact of technology and social media on all aspects of people's lives, from work to relationships. Ramona's projects have been featured at festivals and conferences including i-docs, Power to the Pixel, TFI Interactive, Sheffield Doc/Fest, Hot Docs, SXSW, NXNE, Social Media Week, TEDx, and in publications including the New York Times, Mashable, Cult of Mac and the Huffington Post. She is a member of the City of Toronto Film, Television and Digital Media Board, board member with Media Smarts, Interactive Ontario, and SIRT (the Screen Industries research and Training Centre) .Ramona has a Master's Degree from NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program.
  • Vikas Gupta

    Vikas Gupta

    He/Him

    CEO, AVARA Media •

    Vikas Gupta is a charismatic leader who defines himself as a seasoned executive with an entrepreneurial DNA. He has an insatiable passion for start-ups and emerging growth tech companies. Vikas is the co-founder & CEO of AVARA Media, a company focused on the creation of an immersive Augmented Reality technology platform that experientially connects people to the biggest environmental and ecological issues our planet is facing.

    Formerly as the CEO of Big Blue Bubble, Vikas established the company as the largest independent mobile gaming company in Canada and ranking among the 50 fastest growing technology companies in the nation. In addition to his professional activities, Vikas enjoys working with entrepreneurs and does a great deal of mentorship and coaching work. He also sits on a variety of boards ranging from the University of Waterloo, University of Waterloo Stratford Campus, Interactive Ontario, and was on the former Premier's digital advisory board. Vikas is also a member of the prestigious YPO (Young President's Organization) and served as the Chapter Chair for YPO Toronto.