VP of Products

Trapper Markelz is a technology enthusiast specializing in product management, strategy and design. His youth was spent growing up in Homer, Alaska working in his father’s marine engine shop, tinkering with computers and BBS systems, playing games, sports, mountain biking, and enjoying life. He graduated with a BS in IT from the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York and now lives in Boston with his wonderful wife Maureen and three daughters Hannah, Lucy and June.

Trapper has 10 years of experience in the technology industry managing, designing and building applications for a wide range of employers and clients. While most of his experience has been in manufacturing and business services, this is his first opportunity in the gaming industry.

Trapper’s love of gaming and community is fundamental to his interests. It was this passion that caused him to co-found 360voice.com a large and successful Xbox 360 community site in 2006, exploring how blogjects, recognition systems, and meta games can foster engagement. He tries to game whenever he can on his Gaming PC, Xbox 360, PSP, or DS. He has a deep memory of favorite titles from the past including (but not limited to), Raid over Moscow (Commador64), Bionic Commando (NES), Wing Commander (PC), Castles (PC), Space Quest III (PC), Galactic Empire (BBS), Land of Devastation (BBS), Full Throttle (PC), Return to Castle Wolfenstein (PC), PlanetSide (PC), Burnout (Xbox), Advanced Wars (DS)… more recently Oblivion, Guitar Hero (II & III) and Rock Band for the Xbox 360.

When Trapper isn’t gaming, there is probably science fiction involved. His favorite authors are Charles Stross, Vernor Vinge, and Joe Haldeman. Another claim to fame is that he has seen every Star Trek episode of every season of TOS, TNG, and DS9 in order and will more than happily engage in conversation about which series is best. Battlestar Galactica (the Ron Moore version) is a recent favorite and led him to create battlestarblog.com.

To round it out, Trapper was a professional swing dancer for a few couple years, performing Lindy hop, Charleston and Shag routines around the Chicago, Illinois area as well as competing in national competitions with multiple performance troupes. He danced ballet in high school, and played concert piano for nine years. Sometimes he writes electronic music, but more often just listens to it, preferring the trance/progressive styles, and he knows how to beat match a 33/45 LP using two turn tables.

If you are interested in learning more about Trapper, follow along at www.trappermarkelz.com.