The founders
Who We Are
Distilled Intellect Inc. was founded by three engineering leaders with deep roots in the world’s greatest entertainment experiences and in tech giants scaling to 100M+ users — from the BioWare role-playing canon and The Sims franchise to Google, Amazon, and Twitch.
Brian Neal
CEO
Brian has spent two decades building consumer software at scale — from large-team game development at EA Maxis (The Sims franchise) to leading engineering at Amazon. He previously co-founded Spliced Inc. as its CTO, where he brought the practices of high-availability cloud engineering to entertainment products.
Experience
- CTO & Co-FounderSpliced Inc.
- Head of EngineeringAmazon (Games Retail)
- Lead EngineerEA Maxis
Led engineering at
Shipped Titles
The Sims 4The Sims MobileHellgate: London
John Meier
CTO
John is an engineering leader whose career spans games, e-commerce, and large-scale cloud platforms at Google. He has shipped client systems and online services at EA Maxis, Gazillion, Backcountry.com, and Google, and previously led online services at Spliced Inc.
Experience
- Director, Online ServicesSpliced Inc.
- Staff Engineer, Technical LeadGoogle
- Lead EngineerBackcountry.com
- Senior Engineer, GameplayGazillion (Marvel Heroes)
- Engineer, Client SystemsEA Maxis (The Sims 4)
Led engineering at
Google
Ross Gardner
COO & CAIO
Ross is a veteran of BioWare's golden era of role-playing games, where he spent fifteen years helping ship many of the studio's defining titles. He went on to direct technical work at n-Space on a spiritual successor to Neverwinter Nights, lead engineering on Amazon's Open 3D Engine, and direct the Twitch Studio team, most recently serving as Director of Engineering at Spliced Inc.
Experience
- Director of EngineeringSpliced Inc.
- Engineering DirectorTwitch (Twitch Studio)
- Software Development ManagerAmazon Game Studios (Open 3D Engine)
- Technical Directorn-Space
- Game Producer, Technical Director, Senior EngineerBioWare (15 years)
Led engineering at
Twitch
Shipped Titles
Baldur's GateBaldur's Gate IIKnights of the Old RepublicNeverwinter NightsDragon Age: OriginsStar Wars: The Old RepublicSword Coast LegendsOpen 3D Engine (O3DE)Twitch Studio