Family Online Safety Institute

President
Entertainment Software Rating Board

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. This includes ensuring that video game consumers have effective tools with which to make educated purchase decisions.

Ms. Vance has been named to Video Business’ Women Elite as well as Next-Generation’s Top 25 People of the Year. As an expert on interactive media and president of the ESRB, she has appeared frequently on TV and radio stations nationwide including ABC (World News Tonight, Good Morning America and ABC News Radio), NBC, CBS, FOX, CNN and Bloomberg; has been quoted in news media by The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Newsweek, Associated Press and Reuters; and has had articles published online by Good Housekeeping, Parenting and others.

Before joining the ESRB, Ms. Vance established herself as a true interactive media veteran and industry leader. She spent 18 years at Disney/ABC, with responsibility for leveraging ABC properties in the development and management of a broad range of new media and market initiatives. These initiatives included the Internet (ABC.com, ABCNEWS.com, Oscar.com, Oprah.com), interactive entertainment and educational software publishing (Creative Wonders, ABC Interactive, OT Sports, ABC News Interactive), direct response videocassette marketing, in-flight entertainment, home video and cable television.

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 BA in International Relations/Russian from Washington University in St. Louis, is the mother of two children and lives in Westchester County, NY.