GAMA BOARD OF DIRECTORS ELECTS HISTORIC OFFICER GROUP FOR 2024-25

COLUMBUS, Ohio (May 9, 2024) -- The Game Manufacturers Association Board of Directors recently elected its four officers for the 2024-25 business year, yielding a historic moment in the organizations’ history.

Women currently hold all four leadership roles for the first time in the organization’s history.
Nicole Brady is the newest president of the organization. She had served as the board’s treasurer since the end of 2022, after her election to the board earlier that same year.

Monica Rasso (Vice President), Garima Sharma (Treasurer) and Rhonda Becker (Secretary) join Brady on the central leadership team of the GAMA Board of Directors for the next year.

Brady spent her early career as an accountant, before entering the digital content landscape after becoming a mother. She founded SahmReviews.com, which she runs alongside her husband (and game designer), Scott Brady. The success of SAHM (Stay-At-Home-Mom) Reviews opened opportunities for Brady to work with agencies and major corporations, from Disney to Netflix and several in between.

She meshed her skills in the online arena with her family’s love of board games which put the wheels in motion for her presence in the tabletop industry. Her knowledge of modern digital marketing tactics allowed her to bring an even greater understanding of successful business practices into the tabletop space, where she had begun volunteering her time.

Now, having spent over a decade in tabletop games, she has migrated her full attention into what started out as a passion project.

“As someone who started outside the industry, I feel I bring a fresh perspective and representation to many,” Brady said. I have a GAMA Media & Events membership for SAHM Reviews, I am married to an award-winning designer, and I am an investor in the publishing
company, Play to Z. While I started outside the industry, I have spent more than a decade becoming more immersed in it and I am ready to lead.”

Rasso, the CEO of Meeples at Sea, and part-owner of TantrumCon, Proto ATL and Game & Party Con, previously served as the Board’s Secretary.

She also works as an independent consultant for conventions in the gaming industry, as her professional background includes audit and investigation work in the corporate world.

As Vice President of the Board of Directors, Rasso will oversee the routine GAMA audit this year and advise on Board Standard Operating Procedures.

Rasso was the first Director elected to the Board in the new Media & Events membership group in 2021. She has seen significant growth in the organization since the voice of four new groups of game industry professionals has been added to GAMA.

“I started in the industry as a volunteer at gaming conventions,” Rasso said. “I am passionate about volunteer programs and showing gratitude to these important members of the gaming community.”

Rasso has seen significant growth in the organization since the broadening of the membership.

“As a newly elected director in 2021, I had a seat at the table, but we lacked significant diversity,” Rasso said. “We had just launched several initiatives that year under the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion program, focused on outreach and mentorship for people from underrepresented and marginalized communities. Over the past three years, GAMA has really strengthened and encouraged the growth of these programs.”

Sharma, who is currently Vice President of Licensing and Partnerships at Skybound Entertainment, started her career as a journalist. During those years, she held senior positions at two of the biggest media houses in India and her work spanned projects across print and digital media, where she played an integral role in defining and executing content and monetization strategies for hybrid media products.

When she moved to the US, she used her journalism experience as a foundation to create direct-to-consumer strategies that speak directly to fandoms. Sharma’s work across Kickstarters, tabletop gaming, merchandise and licensing has been featured in publications such as The Hollywood Reporter, Polygon, Variety, etc.

Sharma, a frequent guest lecturer at Boston University, guides entrepreneurs and outside-the-box thinkers in identifying and fulfilling their potential.

“I am deeply honored to be elected as Treasurer for GAMA, an organization that works tirelessly for the tabletop gaming community,” Sharma said. “As we embark on this new
chapter together, I am eager to lend my voice and represent the diverse perspectives of publishers at this table of respected industry professionals.”

She looks forward to helping guide the next chapter of GAMA.

“My two commitments are to amplify diverse perspectives and secondly, to prioritize data sharing that can help chart a course towards industry-wide growth,” Sharma said.

Becker, like Brady and Rasso, also has officer experience within the organization. She had previously served as the GAMA's vice president.

She entered the tabletop space in 2003 as a new retailer, and attended GAMA Expo in 2004, one of GAMA’s flagship events and a cornerstone of peer-to-peer training and education within the industry.

Becker has seen the value of GAMA firsthand and intends on bringing those same benefits to the next wave of tabletop companies.

“Since our first trade show in 2004, our store has grown, survived and thrived,” Becker said. “We have collaborated, mentored and guided and I am proud to be in a position where I feel I can give back a portion of what has been given to me over the years by others.”

Having been a part of tabletop for over two decades, Becker is quick to point out the steps forward she has seen in the industry.

“I am proud of the changes I've seen in this industry so far and in this organization specifically,” Becker said. “I'm even more proud to be selected by my peers to help guide that growth in our industry.”

All four officers are quick to mention more went into this historic moment than just one election.

“These four individual women did not achieve this alone, Brady said. “It was created by the current board of directors with the support and encouragement of past board members.”

“We represent an ever-changing industry, which welcomes diversity in our leaders, whether serving as CEO of a company or as a member of the GAMA Board,” Rasso added. “It’s important to celebrate this historic moment for GAMA and gaming, as recognition of the changing faces and voices of leadership.”