Bonnie Ross served as Corporate Vice President at Xbox Game Studios, and was the head of 343 Industries, the subsidiary studio that manages the Halo video game franchise.
29 Facts About Bonnie Ross
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Bonnie Ross worked on a number of PC and Xbox games, becoming a general manager at Xbox Game Studios.
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In 2007, Bonnie Ross helped found 343 Industries, building a studio that would work on a new Halo game after the departure of developer Bungie.
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Bonnie Ross oversaw the Halo franchise, including merchandise and media adaptations.
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Bonnie Ross has been honored for her work in game development and her efforts to push for more diversity in video games.
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Bonnie Ross's first video game was a 1970s Mattel handheld basketball game.
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Bonnie Ross credited her athletic background with introducing her to gaming, as well as teaching her to learn from setbacks and failure.
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Bonnie Ross attended Colorado State University, initially majoring in engineering; she was one of the only women in her program.
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Bonnie Ross interned at IBM for two years, and coached high school sports and wrote technical manuals in her spare time.
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Bonnie Ross graduated in 1989, with a degree in Technical Communication and a concentration in Physics and Computer Science.
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Bonnie Ross described her early career as working on co-development and publishing projects.
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Bonnie Ross worked on games such as Zoo Tycoon, Fuzion Frenzy, Jade Empire, Mass Effect, Psychonauts, Gears of War, Alan Wake, and Crackdown in roles such as lead or executive producer, and studio head.
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Bonnie Ross credited the variety of games as encouraging her to stay at Microsoft rather than moving to another company.
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Bonnie Ross recalled that her colleagues felt Halo was a waning property and looked at contracting an outside company to produce new games, but she argued differently.
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Bonnie Ross had first become acquainted with the franchise through the tie-in novel Halo: The Fall of Reach.
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Bonnie Ross' pitch won over Microsoft Game Studios general manager Shane Kim, and she was put in charge of the new studio, 343 Industries.
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Bungie staffer Frank O'Connor assisted in the transition, and expected Bonnie Ross would be an executive with no knowledge of Halo or its appeal.
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On launch, the game suffered from severe issues, and Bonnie Ross issued public apologies for the state of the product; she later called it the worst moment in her career.
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Bonnie Ross later promised future 343 Industries games would have betas to avoid similar problems.
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Bonnie Ross envisioned the Halo franchise growing with transmedia content such as books and television.
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Bonnie Ross announced her departure from 343 Industries on September 12,2022.
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Bonnie Ross became a board member at Duolingo in December 2024.
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Bonnie Ross believes gaming can serve as a way to get young people interested in STEM careers by relating it to something they enjoy.
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Head of Xbox Phil Spencer said Bonnie Ross' profile helped attract female talent to the company.
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Bonnie Ross told 60 Minutes she believes more diverse teams result in more innovation and creative output.
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Bonnie 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".
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Bonnie Ross has made appearances as a speaker at GeekWire 2013 and Microsoft's ThinkNext 2015 in Israel.
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Bonnie Ross was the lead speaker for Microsoft's presentation at the 2015 Electronic Entertainment Expo, as part of an industry push for larger roles for women.
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Bonnie Ross was the second female inductee in this award since its establishment.