Bonnie Ross | |
---|---|
Other names | Bonnie Ross Ziegler |
Alma mater | Colorado State University |
Occupation | Corporate Vice President at Microsoft, Head of 343 Industries |
Years active | 1994–present |
Known for | Video game development |
Notable work | Halo 4 , Halo: The Master Chief Collection |
Bonnie Ross is an American video games developer and Corporate Vice President at Microsoft Studios. Ross established and is the head of 343 Industries, the subsidiary studio that manages the Halo video game franchise.
She started her college career in engineering and as was typical during that time, she was one of the only women in her engineering major. Ross ended up switching to a fledgling technical writing track in the journalism department during her 1987-88 school year. Ross graduated from Colorado State University in 1989 with a degree in Technical Communication and a concentration in Physics and Computer Science.
Ross' career in the video game industry began in 1994, starting as a producer working on PC sports games. In addition to the Halo franchise, she has worked on many other game titles including NBA: Inside Drive, Pandora’s Box, Zoo Tycoon, Dungeon Siege, Counter Strike, Gears of War, Jade Empire, Psychonauts, and Mass Effect.
Ross was listed in Fortune magazine's 2014 article "10 powerful women in video games", which noted that she was "responsible for defining the vision and leading the Halo franchise, which has sold more than 60 million copies worldwide" and had "helped grow the Halo franchise beyond gaming" with books, video series and TV series.
In October 2014, Ross appeared as a speaker at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, held in Phoenix, Arizona, presenting on "Technology and How It Is Evolving Storytelling in Our Entertainment Experiences". She has also made appearances as a speaker at GeekWire 2013 and Microsoft's ThinkNext 2015 in Israel.