Board elections are one of the most important ways members can shape the future of GAMA: The Tabletop Association. The board is responsible for guiding the organization’s direction, setting priorities, and ensuring that GAMA effectively represents the tabletop industry.
Because these decisions affect publishers, retailers, distributors, media, events, and creators across the industry, it is essential that members approach the election with good information about the candidates and their perspectives.
SaveGAMA.org is publishing the current list of candidates and encouraging members to learn about their priorities, experience, and vision for the organization. Informed voting helps ensure that leadership reflects the needs and expectations of the community it serves.
Participation also matters. Board elections only work when members take part. Strong voter turnout helps ensure that the results reflect the will of the broader membership and strengthens the legitimacy of the organization’s leadership.
We encourage all eligible members to review the candidates, engage with the issues facing the organization, and participate in the election.
The future of GAMA depends on an engaged and informed membership.
In our effort to engage we E-mailed most candidates a campaign survey. We have no right to compel participation, and are unsure if people will participate. We only required candidates to answer three questions; their name, their company name, and why we should elect them. All other questions on the survey were optional, so we will share the required answers here (which included the question “Why do you believe you’re the best choice to join the GAMA Board of Directors?”) We used internet searches to locate E-mail addresses for candidates where possible, but we were not sure which company each candidate represents and were not able to find E-mail addresses for each candidate.
We are not endorsing any candidates. We are not supporting or opposing any current candidate, incumbent or challenger. We are just hoping to offer everyone the chance to better understand the candidates, if those candidates choose to participate.
Media and Events Candidates
The following candidates were sent our candidate survey. If they choose to respond we will share their answers here.
KP Upadhyayula
Nicole Brady
Brent Webb
Paul McKelvey
Mercutio “Mer” Behan
Grant Mielke
One candidate, Ken Whitman, was not emailed this questionnaire. Until every retail member of this collective receives refunds for PencilDice we support his removal from the organization, not his election to the Board.
Publisher
One candidate has returned our survey.
Keven Brusky is the founder and president of APE Games (apegames.com), and he left us the following answer as to why he is the best candidate:
“Maybe, like running for POTUS, US Senate, etc., the best qualified people would never do it. Honestly, I may NOT be the best choice to join the board. I can tell you that I’m not an insider. It won’t hurt my feelings if I am not elected to join the board. I am running so that I can give voice to those that know me and would trust I do a good job.”
The following candidates were sent our campaign survey and we are awaiting responses.
Heather O’Neill
Eric Chen
Ryan Lumax
Two candidates, Laura Hohman and Christopher Landauer, did not have E-mails we could locate. They can reach us via E-mail if they would like the survey.
Creator
The following candidates were sent our campaign survey.
Eartha Johnson
Will Major
Production
One candidate has returned our survey:
Matt Peck is the owner of London Pendragon (londonpendragon.com), and he took the time to answer both our optional and required question. When asked about the one area of improvement he would like to see GAMA make, he said the following.
“While there are several goals I would like to help advance, I would consider my time on the Board most successful over the next two years if we are able to make meaningful, measurable progress in strengthening member confidence and trust. To me, that means not only improving perception, but doing so in a way that can be clearly demonstrated—through increased member engagement, stronger participation, and improved feedback in surveys and other established metrics. Building that trust is foundational to the Board’s effectiveness and the long-term success of the organization.”
As to who he believes he is the best choice, he said the following.
“With 20 years of experience leading operational and strategic initiatives, I bring a strong background in project management, LEAN/Six Sigma process improvement, and organizational leadership. Throughout my career, I have focused on building efficient systems, developing measurable performance strategies, and helping organizations achieve long-term success through collaboration and thoughtful planning. I have worked closely with executive leadership to implement key performance metrics, improve operational transparency, and guide strategic initiatives that support sustainable growth. As GAMA continues to grow and evolve, maintaining strong confidence in the Board’s leadership is essential. I believe recent challenges present an opportunity to strengthen communication, transparency, and trust between the Board and the membership it serves. If elected, I would be committed to supporting a stable, thoughtful, and collaborative Board that keeps the interests of the membership at the center of its work. I would be honored to serve and contribute to ensuring that GAMA remains a strong, trusted, and valuable organization for its members.”
The following candidates were sent our candidate survey and have not submitted responses.
Michael Maggiotto Jr.
Nick Haas
Wholesaler
One candidate, Andrew Ciccarone of Sheltered International (siships.com) has returned our candidate survey. His answer as to why he is the best candidate was as follows.
“As a Licensed Customs Broker and Managing Member of Sheltered International, I’ve spent 10+ years navigating the tabletop supply chain for everyone from indie creators to global corporations. I am seeking to serve because our industry needs a direct, technical perspective on the ever-changing landscape of U.S. trade policy and tariffs. My goal is to use my 360-degree view of importing and customs to inform GAMA’s leadership and ensure our membership is supported and protected through the 2026-28 term.”
The following candidate was sent our candidate survey and has not submitted a response.
Tiffany Reid
Retail
Four candidates for Retail have returned our survey, and their answers are here:
Jeff Croff at Homebrew Game Lodge (homebrewgamelodge.com) would like to see GAMA work on creating resources to help member companies engage with local media, and shared the following as to why he should be elected.
“A career in marketing and communications combined with over twenty years serving on nonprofit boards brings a focus on effective governance and strong communication with constituents.”
Shawn Hendrix of Fellowship Games (thegathering.games) believes that GAMA should focus on business instead of social activism, and is the first candidate to take our survey who said he would stand for election as an officer if he wins a seat on the board. For the final survey question, why are you the best choice, he wrote the following:
“I have a large following and decades of experience.”
Daniel Stevens is the owner of Fellowship Hobby & Games (fellowshiphg.com). His one area of improvement that he would focus on during his term is “transparent communication on the status of actionable initiatives.”
As to why he believes he is the best candidate he sent a long and detailed answer, copied here.
“Coming from a career in a much larger industry with a much larger and older membership association, change is needed for the long-term growth of an organization (GAMA) intent on being a symbol of industry standards and a true benefit to its members.
I firmly believe holding a GAMA membership should demand a high level of respect/trust from those outside the organization and bring pride of membership to businesses and individuals blessed to be named GAMA Members. We should be able to trust fellow GAMA Members.
At this year’s expo, I was pleased to connect with several longtime members (some currently serving) who align with the concerns you are raising and are striving, in short, to make GAMA Membership meaningful. Those that want to see our organization ‘grow up’ need to work together to heal, build trust and stop splintering further. Goals and priorities are meaningless without honorable, transparent and measurable action behind them.
Before opening Fellowship Hobby & Games, I spent over 20 years serving in the golf hospitality business. Most of that time was spent managing operations as a PGA of America (Professional Golfers Association) member. The PGA of America has 41 chapters supporting over 30,000 professionals. As a Head Golf Professional, Director of Golf and later General Manager, much of my career was in the private club sector of the industry.
Outside of direct golf operations, my role was heavily retail focused, directly overseeing all aspects of club retail operations. During my time managing single-site clubs my average annual revenue exceeded one million at any given club, the majority of which was driven through retail. My focus was providing country club / golf course patrons with an experience, not just a transaction.
Towards the end of my career, I was privileged to work for large ownership/operation company that owned about 70 golf courses and country clubs. During this time one of my primary functions was to help other professionals across the country enhance and restructure their retail operations. The retail operations of the clubs I directly worked with exceeded four million in annual revenue. As a team we strove to change how we approached the shopping experience in the golf industry. We achieved this by exploring and implementing solutions brought in from outside the golf industry. Analyzing other retail operations (outside of the golf industry) allowed us to change how we had always thought “golf course shopping” should look. We moved beyond golf, expanding our stores into a full lifestyle shopping experience. Upending the norm at our facilities was one of the great challenges, opportunities and ultimately rewarding endeavors of my professional career. I continue to revisit lessons learned through my career, learn new ways to innovate operations through the wise advice of others (often outside the industry), and strive to bring that cross-industry perspective into the operations and offerings of Fellowship Hobby & Games.
Fellowship Hobby & Games has been open since late 2023 and continues to thrive. Our community quickly outgrew our initial building and last year I was able to acquire (purchase) a new property and building location that we have been enjoying since the middle of last year. Since opening we have seen consistent growth in our community, events and revenue. We are not the largest store by any means but are proud that, in a short time, we have gone from a single owner/operator to employing four individuals working 30+ hours a week and several other part-time employees/game masters. We nearly eclipse the one-million-dollar in-store sales mark in our second full year of operation and are budgeted to exceed that mark in 2026.
Hospitality is at the heart of my career. I believe my experiences from the golf industry as a professional and as a member of a large organization have allowed me a unique approach towards hobby and game retail. I hope that as a long-time member and through my experiences in the PGA of America, I can serve the members of GAMA through cross-industry and hospitality-based perspectives. I strive to see GAMA continue its growth in industry influence, prestige, and to elevate the value and collaboration for all membership levels.”
A very long list of names appears on the ballot, and the following people were sent our candidate survey and have not submitted responses.
Boyd Stephenson is the Owner and Franchisee of Game Kastle College Park (gamekastle.com/stores/collegepark). His one area of improvement would be data collection, about which he wrote the following.
“GAMA did a retailer survey in 2024 and released the data in early 2025. They did another survey in 2025, but haven’t released that data yet. That survey helped me benchmark my store and I’d like to see it become an annual thing. I’d like to see it fleshed out too. It’s great that we are learning about what the average revenue is per store, but what’s everyone’s average revenue per square-foot? Some stores are in higher rent areas than others. Can we split that data out so that when using reports to benchmark our performance a store owner in downtown Chicago isn’t relying on results from one in suburban Des Moines? I’d also like to see other research opportunities so that the association can put out more information for us, like learning how stores are splitting their inventory value between board games, party games, TCGs, RPGs, etc. What percentage of stores are people devoting to each of these categories? Are there certain tax deductions that some of us are taking advantage of and that others could too? Basically, how can we all learn more about what each other are doing and use that to improve every retailer’s operation?”
When asked why he believes he’s the best choice for the Board of Directors he wrote the following:
“I am running for the GAMA Retailer Group, which chooses its members of the board indirectly. While I believe that I might make a good board member, I also believe that the best board members have a history of working with the organization, have strong friendships and working relationships with other members and the organization staff, and through all of those things can build a vision about where the membership wants the organization to go, what the organization can reasonably do in any given year, and how to build the capacity so that the organization is more able to take on greater responsibility each successive year.
I have been a GAMA member for five years now. I know several other members and have experience working with several members of the GAMA staff. However, I lack an insider’s view. While I believe that I could take on a board role, I do not know that I am the best candidate. If selected for the Retail Division Group, I would want to speak with the other members to figure out who can best fill that role.
In addition to my beliefs about improving GAMA’s data collection efforts, I believe that a Retail Division delegate to the Board of Directors should work on helping the organization build on the efforts to professionalize our trade association. The current board, recent past boards, John Stacey, and the GAMA have staff have taken great strides on that front, particularly in member education. But there’s more to be done. I would want to work on making sure that GAMA is taking care of the legal niceties necessary to protect each member’s participation in the association, starting with making sure that we as an association are aware of antitrust rules and take steps to make sure that no member or group in GAMA can come into legal trouble by inadvertently violating them.”
Brandon Toyzan
Nick Jones
Kristin Brunetto
Christina Smith
Lea-Anne Welter
Adam Schotz
Heather Rothwell
Erik Vanzant
Gwendolyn Loch
Anthony Economos
Dylan Roberts
Christopher Troiano
David Wheeler
George Machado
Gregg McCleary
William Buck
Jamie Mathy
For two candidates, Roger Campbell and Kelly Gowens, no email addresses were found.
Save GAMA 