Neil has a distinguished career in education with AIE and in the NSW public education sector. A graduate of Sydney University (Ba of Education), Neil joined AIE in 2001 teaching Diploma of Computer Game Development (Art). Neil has also helped develop curriculum for the Certificate IV in 3D Animation and was instramental in developing the Certifiacte III in Screen (online). Neil has also worked as a freelance graphic artist and website developer, as well as founding Kraken Studios, AIE's first incubator company.

Neil is also involved in the wider games and CGI industries through various boards, such as the Game Developers Association of Australia and is an active participant in state and federal government digital industry initatives.

Alan Maxwell  was first interested in animation from an early age, specifically stop motion. He first became involved in the film industry at age 17 and worked in the area of Special Effects for over 12 years on countless Australian feature films, tv series and commercials. ). For example Alan was Miniature Fx coordinator on “Mad Max 3 – Beyond Thunderdome”.  (See his credits at Internet Movie Database )  He went on to move into Directing, primarily working in Commercials. He has shot over seventy commercials for a diverse range of clients and brands. Alan is a passionate animator and effects expert who enjoys passing on his experience, skills and knowledge to his students.

As a kid Conan was an avid gamer with an imagination for creativity and fun, which spawned into an interest in modding games and the wider games industry in general. After leaving high school he attended AIE and completed a Diploma in Games Development (Software Engineering) which lead to a job with games studio BlueTongue Entertainment.

After many years and many released game titles he has returned to AIE to head up the programming classes at the AIE Sydney campus, constantly divulging all his industry secrets and stories with passion.

Having grown up among game designers and geeks in California's Bay Area, Epona chose to rebel by forswearing computers and getting into theatre! That obviously didn't last long. She's spent the last 5 years in the Australian entertainment industry working as a senior artist and lead technical director on Animal Logic's Academy Award-winning “Happy Feet” and Photon VFX's internationally acclaimed “Animalia”.

Jill started out with AIE Canberra in 2006 working at the Canberra campus, she is now the Marketing & Communications Manager at the Sydney campus. Jill has both a Marketing and Graphic Design background and also studied film at University.  Being a people person, Jill enjoys spreading the word about AIE.  Visiting schools, chatting with careers advisors, attending expos and organising events such as Open Days, Industry Experience Days and Trivia nights are just some of the things she does at AIE.  Jill is also responsible for a variety of print and online advertising as well as creating AIE’s monthly e-newsletter.

Outside of AIE Jill enjoys discovering her new surroundings in Sydney.  Jill loves being in the city, going shopping (especially for shoes) and all the amazing cafes and restaurants Sydney has to offer. Being a former film student, Jill also loves going to the movies. Jill is not a huge gamer, but enjoys playing guitar hero and spore.

• Post Graduate Diploma of Graphic Design – University of Canberra 2006
• Bachelor of Communication, Media Production – University of Canberra 2004