Kellee Santiago

Lore & Background

Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Santiago was raised in Richmond, Virginia. She played video games from a young age and was encouraged by her software engineer father to experiment with computers. She attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and later earned a master's degree in the Interactive Media Program of the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. While at USC, she produced the award-winning game Cloud, developed by Jenova Chen and a student team. Its success sparked her and Chen to found thatgamecompany upon graduating, and she became its president. She produced the studio's first two games, Flow and Flower, and moved more into her president role during the development of Journey. After Journey's release in 2012, she left the company. She is a TED fellow and one of the backers of the Indie Fund. She married Mike Stein in 2010. She later worked for Ouya, Google Play Games, Niantic, and E-Line Media.

Reader's Guide

Santiago's career highlights include co-founding thatgamecompany with Jenova Chen, producing Flow (2007) and Flower (2009), and serving as president of the company. She left thatgamecompany in March 2012. She has since held roles in developer relations at Ouya, Google Play Games, Niantic, and E-Line Media.

Did You Know?

• Santiago produced the student game Cloud, which received over 400,000 downloads in its first four months.
• She became a TED fellow in 2009.
• She was named one of the top 100 most influential women in technology by Fast Company in 2011.