Kate is a unique hybrid of an applied geographer, writer, and content culturalization strategist with a
passion for global cultures and mediatechnologies. With broad experience in the fields of geography, cartography, geopolitics and cross-cultural issues, Kate is a recognized thought leader in applying this knowledge to "real world" business solutions and problem solving, particularly in the information industry as related to inclusive representation, content management, and cross-cultural impacts of information and globalization.
As Microsoft's geopolitical strategist in the internal geopolitical strategy team she created ('92-'05)
and now as an independent consultant in her company Geogrify, she pioneered the field of digital
content "culturalization" to identify geopolitical and cultural risks and opportunities in corporate products and services. Kate applies her expertise to a broad range of issues related to multinational corporate activity in local markets.
Kate is better known for her leadership and culturalization work in the video game industry, including her most recent role as Executive Director of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA®) from 2012 to 2017. During her time at Microsoft and since, she's worked on many game franchises, including Halo, Fable, Age of Empires, Dragon Age, Modern Warfare, Mass Effect, Star Wars : The Old Republic and many others. She's also the founder of the IGDA's Localization SIG and co-organizer of
the former Localization Summit at GDC. Kate has been a columnist for MultiLingual Computing
magazine since 2005 and she plans to publish a culturalization handbook for game developers in
2017. Subject matter expertise in geopolitics, cartography, content culturalization, policy making, corporate cultures, negotiation with governments, crisis management, geopolitical training, cross-cultural competence, advocacy, political engagement, non-profit management
Edwards was listed as one of "The 10 Most Powerful Women In Gaming"in 2013 by Fortune, and in 2014 she was named as one of the video games industry's six "People of the Year".