Episode 31: Making Experiences We Are Proud Of With People We Like To Make The World a Better Place - Jesse Schell

After graduating from the Information Networking Institute at CMU in 1994 with a Masters of Science in Computer Networking and Virtual Reality, Jesse Schell went on to work for Bell Labs. In 1995 he joined Walt Disney Imagineering, where he worked for seven years in capacity of programmer, manager, designer and Creative Director on several projects. These included rides for theme parks, DisneyQuest, and Toontown Online, a massively multiplayer online game. During his time at Disney, he met Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch, who was taking a sabbatical in the lab where Jesse worked. When Randy founded the Entertainment Technology Center at CMU, he invited Jesse to become a faculty member. Jesse joined the faculty in 2002. In 2002, Jesse founded Schell Games, a full-service game design and development company with a focus on creating both educational and entertainment games on all platforms for players of all ages. The company is based in Pittsburgh, PA and employs more than 100 people. Currently Jesse serves as CEO. At Tech 50 in 2016, Jesse was awarded CEO of the year, and the year prior, Jesse was named one of Pittsburgh's 50 most powerful people.