Donna Goldsmith ’82 is the former vice president of licensing for the National Basketball Association and former chief operating officer at World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Inc. She recently accepted a position as general manager of operations for the 2014 New York/New Jersey Super Bowl Host Committee. She is a frequent volunteer for New York City Career Connections and Alumni-In-Residence programs. Donna has been a Torchlight mistress of ceremonies and the recipient of an Anniversary Class Award from the Oswego Alumni Association. She resides in New York City.

Amy Vanderlyke ’01 is an attorney at Sugarman Law Firm LLP. She is a graduate of Syracuse University’s College of Law, the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and the Oswego School of Education. Amy has served as an adjunct professor at Oswego and Newhouse School of Public Communications. She volunteers her time with Make-A-Wish of Central New York. Amy has also served on the Oswego Graduates Of the Last Decade Leadership Council and the Reunion 2011 Giving Committee. She resides in Syracuse.

Koren Vaughan ’95 is an assistant marketing director and director of promotions for two of Inner City Broadcasting Corp.’s radio stations, New York’s No. 1-ranked WBLS-FM and the city’s first 24-hour gospel music station, WLIB-AM. Koren has a master’s degree in media management from Metropolitan College of New York and a bachelor’s in business administration from Oswego. She has participated in New York City Career Connections and at the 2009 Dr. Lewis B. O’Donnell Media Summit on the Career Connectors panel. She resides on Long Island.

The term “video game” might conjure up images of space invaders, barrel-flinging apes or a pair of super brothers: kids’ stuff.

For people like game producer Jeffery Gardiner ’95 it’s a lucrative business — and a chance to tell great stories to all ages. A senior producer for Bethesda Softworks in Maryland, Gardiner’s résumé includes titles such as Fallout III, a critically acclaimed hit that sold more than 5 million copies.

Senior Game Producer Jeffery Gardiner '95 speaks as part of the Living Writers Series in October.

“Games are still stigmatized. People still think they’re for kids,” Gardiner said during a campus visit sponsored by the Living Writers lecture series and the Oswego Alumni Association’s Alumni-In-Residence program. “There’s a barrier of entry to games, but I think that is lower now because of phenomena like Wii™ that attract a wider audience.”

A longtime gamer — going back to his elementary school days playing Dungeons and Dragons with friends — Gardiner applied his English writing arts degree to the vast creative avenues offered by his favorite electronic medium.

In video games, the player controls the story. It’s the writer’s job to dream up challenging scenarios that will keep the gamer engrossed, Gardiner said.

“How can you help them lose themselves in the game?” he said. The writer works with a theme, characters and settings, “very much the same as the fundamentals I learned here.”

The gaming industry has evolved considerably in his lifetime. Today’s fantasies are very complex and filled with compelling stories, many of which are targeted at adults.

“Nothing beats a good script,” Gardiner said. “Like a good pulp fiction novel or movie, you’re able to escape.”

— Shane M. Liebler

The lead guitarist for the band Morning Wood and a German major at Oswego, Matthew followed his love of the language to a semester abroad in Goetingen, inspired by German Professors Emeriti George Koenig and Peter Hertz-Ohmes. It became a decade-long adventure.

Matthew Cutillo '95

While he went abroad to hone his language skills, Matthew ended up developing his musical talent as well. “I had been in bands all my youth,” says Matthew, who picked up a guitar at age 2 to imitate his brother and has kept playing ever since. He brought his guitar to Germany and played at local venues. “It was great,” he says. “I could go out, drink and eat all I wanted and come home with a pocket full of cash.”

Singing for his supper got Matthew picked up by the Rex Richter Quintet. He would spend the next four years touring Germany, playing schlage — hit parade songs — and German versions of American and British pop hits of the ’60s and ’70s. He was on the road most days, playing at least 200 shows a year with the band and eventually became the lead singer, before the group broke up in the post-9/11 world economic downturn.

He taught business executives English in Hamburg before returning home in 2004, to build houses with his father’s business before once again earning his income with his guitar and voice.

He is now one of the most popular events entertainers on the East Coast, playing “hits from the 1500s to the present.” He is currently ranked No. 1 among the 7,000 acts represented by the booking company Gigmasters.

Now Matthew plays three or four evenings a week, performing at weddings, parties and birthdays as a solo acoustic guitarist and vocalist. He is up at 3 a.m. practicing his classical guitar finger work before spending time with his wife and their 3-year-old daughter.

What’s in the future for Matthew? More music, and this time, more original work. “I am thinking of bigger, better things,” he says.

— Michele Reed

Listen to Matt:

White Boat

Open Road