Suzanne Seggerman | |
|---|---|
 Photo by MIT Media Lab Director Joi Ito |
Suzanne Seggerman is the co-founder of Games for Change and is a public speaker and adviser on new media and social impact.
Suzanne Seggerman | |
|---|---|
| Photo by MIT Media Lab Director Joi Ito |
Suzanne Seggerman is the co-founder of Games for Change and is a public speaker and adviser on new media and social impact.
Seggerman grew up in Fairfield, Connecticut, [1] the daughter of Harry G. A. Seggerman, who had been vice chairman of Fidelity, and Anne Crellin Seggerman. [2] She has five siblings; Patricia Seggerman, Marianne Seggerman, Yvonne Seggerman, Henry Seggerman, and John Seggerman. [2] Seggerman received a B.A. from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, [1] and a master's degree from New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP). [3]
Seggerman was production manager for the PBS documentary series The West , [4] and then a director at new media think tank Web Lab, [5] which was an early think tank dedicated to exploring and funding serious issues at the outset of the World Wide Web [6]
Seggerman was co-founder and former president of Games for Change (G4C), [7] a non-profit that promotes and supports the emerging uses of video games for humanitarian and educational purposes. [4] Early examples of games for change include Honorable Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's suite of games called iCivics; Food Force a game about global hunger created by the World Food Program; and Ayiti: the Cost of Life , a game about poverty set in Haiti. Seggerman ran G4C since its inception in 2004. [8]
Seggerman also co-founded PETLab (Prototyping Education and Technology Lab), a public interest design and research lab at Parsons The New School for Design, supported by grants from MTV and the MacArthur Foundation. [9]
She has spoken at Sundance Film Festival [10] and has advised on Microsoft’s Imagine Cup. [11]
In October 2010, Seggerman pleaded guilty to conspiracy and tax fraud related to a $12 million 2001 inheritance her family received in a Swiss bank account from her father. [12] [13] In September 9, 2014, her sentencing had been postponed pending the outcome of the family financial adviser, Michael Little's, trial. [14] She was a cooperating witness in that trial, and in 2014, and again in 2019, the probation department recommended probation. [15]
On June 26, 2019, Seggerman along with her siblings Henry, Yvonne, and John were each sentenced to prison. She received a four month sentence which she completed in December 2019. [16] The siblings had funneled their inherited money into the U.S. tax-free through a variety of means: shell companies, a fraudulent foundation, and carrying just under $10,000 cash on return trips from Switzerland. [17]
