Patricia Vance
ESRB
Patricia Vance was appointed president of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) in November 2002. As president, she is responsible for overseeing and enforcing the computer and video game industry's self-regulatory practices, which includes ensuring that video game consumers have effective tools with which to make educated purchase decisions. Ms. Vance serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the Family Online Safety Institute. She was also appointed to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Online Safety and Technology Working Group (OSTWG), which was established by Congress to make recommendations on the protection of children on the Internet through education, labeling and parental control technology. She has testified on behalf of the ESRB before both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, and has represented the U.S. video game industry's rating system at governmental, academic and industry events and seminars around the world.
Before joining the ESRB, Ms. Vance spent 18 years at Disney/ABC, with responsibility for a broad range of new media and market initiatives. These initiatives included the ABC.com, ABCNEWS.com, Oscar.com, Oprah.com, several interactive entertainment and educational software publishing ventures (Creative Wonders, ABC Interactive, OT Sports, ABC News Interactive), direct response marketing and in-flight entertainment.
Prior to ABC, Ms. Vance was responsible for planning movie acquisitions for The Movie Channel. She has also held senior management positions with The Princeton Review as Executive Vice President & General Manager of Admissions Services, and before that as President and CEO of HalfthePlanet.com, an online resource network for people with disabilities.
Ms. Vance holds a B.A. in International Relations/Russian from Washington University in St. Louis, is the mother of two children and lives in Westchester County, NY.
