Catherine Herdlick has one of the biggest smiles I encountered all summer. She's downright cheery with sky blue eyes and high cheeks, certainly not what I expected from a director of production at the busy casual game development studio Gamelab. Before we met, I imagined her having the austere manner of a sergeant, someone who dresses in dark gray and has heavy glasses that slide down her nose. Needless to say, I was completely unprepared for her peppy greeting when we met at Gamelab's New York office.

Herdlick is the director of game production at Gamelab, best known for its PC title Diner Dash. She's been in the industry a little more than four years and is credited on several Gamelab titles, including Egg vs. Chicken and Shopmania, among many others. What's unique about Herdlick is how widely she embraces all kinds of games, from children's museum displays to interactive walking tours (see the sidebar at the end of this article for a complete list of titles and side projects she's worked on). It's her open perception of games that helped her break into the industry.

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