Henk B. Rogers, Founder

Considered one of the visionaries of computer games, Henk Rogers helped change the face of the industry as the entrepreneur responsible for bringing Tetris, one of its greatest games, to the United States and world market. In 1996, Henk opened Blue Planet Software, which manages Tetris and has kept it in the forefront of casual gaming through improved design. In 2002, Henk started Blue Lava Wireless LLC, a mobile phone game developer and publisher that he sold to JAMDAT in 2005. Starting with the efforts of Blue Lava Wireless, Tetris became the #1 game on mobile phones.  Today, more than 10 percent of all games sold on mobile phones in North America are versions of Tetris.  In 2006, he created the Blue Planet Foundation, which has become the frontline organization in the fight for renewable indigenous energy in Hawaii.  The foundation’s mission is to change the world’s energy culture by ending the use of fossil fuel on the planet, beginning in Hawaii.

Henk presently has three new startup software development companies -- Tetris Online, a casual online game company focused on “non-core gamers”; Blue Lava Technologies, developer of a photo tagging software that automatically generates digital photo slideshows, and Avatar Reality, creators of Blue Mars, a next-generation virtual world platform that offers revolutionary levels of interactivity, fidelity, and scale.

Mark Loughridge, Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors

Before joining Avatar Reality as Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mark Loughridge co-founded Foundation 9 Entertainment, the largest independent game developer in the world. During his 11+ years in growing this business, Mr. Loughridge oversaw the creative direction of the company, spearheaded new product development, and provided leadership on internal operations as well as strategic planning.

Mr. Loughridge earned an M.A. in Experimental Animation from the California Institute of the Arts. Mr. Loughridge also graduated from Harvard with an A.B. degree, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa in East Asian Studies. Mr. Loughridge studied at Cambridge University in England and Nagoya University in Japan under the support of separate fellowships.

Jim Sink, CEO

Previous to his work at Avatar Reality, Jim managed business development and partner acquisition at Microsoft's Xbox Live division as well as managing business and concept development at Foundation9, the world's largest independent game developer. He is a credited game designer on a variety of titles published by Sega, Hudson, Nokia and Eidos. Jim received an A.B. Degree from Duke University.

Kazuyuki Hashimoto, President

Oversees the strategic goals, objectives, and platform architecture for Blue Mars. In his former role as Senior Vice President of R&D for Square Co., Ltd., Hashimoto was responsible for the development of the innovative 3D production systems used to create the Final Fantasy VII game and the photo-realistic animated feature film, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Hashimoto additionally served as Vice President of Technology, New Platforms, at Electronic Arts.

Li-han Chen, Vice President – Platform Development

Mr. Chen supervises the development of the Blue Mars virtual world platform. In his former role as Vice President of Engineering for the Taiwan-based game company, AtGames, Chen oversaw the company’s technology development and game outsourcing business. Chen was also Project Manager of the popular massively multiplayer online role playing game, EverQuest II East at SOGA.

Glenn Sanders, Community Director

Glenn connects Avatar Reality with the Blue Mars community and the world. Before joining Avatar Reality, he was Exec. Dir. of Internet Services for EMG, Inc. where he built and promoted a virtual world and social networking website. Glenn served as VP of R&D for Humanity Interactive where he helped launch the company and drove development of software, 3D artwork, and animation. Prior to that he built a thriving community as Community Director for NuvoMedia. Glenn is an accomplished 3D artist who creates photorealistic characters.