OUR PEOPLE. YOUR PEOPLE.

 

Our team comprises over 50 individuals from a diverse range of backgrounds, spanning technology, linguistic and creative disciplines. Here are some of the people you’re likely to meet.

  • Elizabeth began in the video game industry in 1995, and has shipped titles on almost every platform since, including most flavours of Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo as well as PC, online and mobile games. Her credits include entries in some of the world’s most successful franchises, including Harry Potter, Marvel, Indiana Jones, Destiny, The Sims, Shrek, Gears of War, NBA Live, Star Wars and more. As someone who has spent over 20 years in the game development trenches she understands the tight deadlines and high expectations in the industry. She very much enjoys coordinating and overseeing the delivery of professional services at Speech Graphics to all of our clients.

  • Dimitri is a speech technology researcher and an expert in deep learning. He obtained a PhD in 2016 from Idiap Research Institute in Switzerland, where he led pioneering research on using deep learning techniques for speech recognition. Since then he leads the machine learning team at Speech Graphics, developing and building neural networks models to improve audio-driven facial animation. He is also a published scientist with 1000+ citations.

  • Emily has been at Speech Graphics for 4 years, after graduating from Abertay University. Her strong communication skills and deep understanding of real-time animation technologies enable her to provide guidance on best practices and to troubleshoot issues as they arise. She also has a keen eye for detail and ensures that Speech Graphics products continue to push the boundaries of animation technology.

  • Georgia joined Speech Graphics in 2016, making her the longest-serving member of the Data Linguistics team. A phonetician, speech researcher, and data engineer, she is passionate about leveraging interdisciplinary perspectives and approaches. As the Head of the D&L team at Speech Graphics, Georgia focuses on data curation and language development to further advance our audio-driven facial animation technology.

  • A coder at heart, Attila was Sony PlayStation’s first R&D engineer in the U.S. and focused on graphics and network technologies before shifting to platform security. He was VP, Mobile Technologies for Next Media Animation Ltd. in Hong Kong and Taipei, and served as CTO for Mine Inc. in Berlin. Attila also spent five years in Japan working on cutting edge game technologies for Microsoft, SEGA, and CSK before heading to Toronto to work on polygon manipulations in Power Animator and Maya for Alias/Wavefront. At Speech Graphics, Attila leads a team architecting the future of real-time animation platforms.

  • Dan’s considerable experience in account management and client services roles across the creative and technology sectors means he understands the importance of delivering an exceptional customer experience for our clients - from initial enquiry through to project delivery - and beyond.

  • Dimitrios has over 10 years of experience as a software engineer working on CAD software and animation middleware. He focuses on 3D tool development and crafting captivating demos for our facial animation tech. He also assists our customers with seamlessly integrating our technology into their workflows by providing integration samples, Game Engine plugins (i.e. our Unreal Engine 5 plugins for SG Com and SGX Studio), and general technical support.

  • Alan is the Finance Director at Speech Graphics with extensive experience driving results in data and technology businesses. A qualified Accountant, he spent time at Ernst & Young in London before spending 16 years in leadership roles at Wood Mackenzie, including VP of Corporate Development and as Managing Director of the Petroleum Edge Joint Venture Company. While there he led mergers and acquisitions, resulting in three successful closed deals, and post-merger integration s with international teams. Alan also volunteers as a board member, business mentor, and advisor to multiple Scottish enterprises.

  • Pauline joined Speech Graphics in 2017. Having started her career in Linguistics R&D, she has since brought her unique skills over to the creative side of 3D production. She now leads the creative team and provides a bridge between linguistics and animation, working to bring the most realistic lip syncing to character facial animation. Her work can be seen in many of the recent and soon-to-be-released games where Speech Graphics technology has been utilized. Her credits include entries in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Halo Infinite.

  • Lauri is a 3D animator with almost a decade of experience in the video games industry. Through working on a range of different projects, he is experienced in different animation styles, including skills in cinematography, ranging from video games to shorts. In Speech Graphics, Lauri leads a team of animators in the Singapore office, utilizing his skills in character animation during character setup processes to ensure the best results when producing animations using our tools, and also to lead and advise on any and all internal animation projects.

 

 

COMPANY BACKGROUND

Speech Graphics delivers pioneering facial animation technology to the entertainment industry, working with clients such as Warner Brothers and Def Jam Recordings.

Based on over 20 years of R&D in speech technology and procedural facial dynamics, our software produces high-quality facial animation from audio alone, with no need for motion capture. Speech Graphics spun out of the University of Edinburgh’s world-renowned School of Informatics in 2010 under the leadership of founders Michael Berger and Gregor Hofer, and game industry veteran Colin Macdonald.

Speech Graphics has won several awards for its speech-driven animation technology, including the prestigious John Logie Baird Award for innovation, an LT-Innovate Award, a Santander Entrepreneurial Award, and game industry awards including a 2015 Develop Award for Best Creative Outsourcer and 2015 TIGA Award for Best Animation Supplier. The company has also received several development grants, including grants from Scottish Enterprise and the University of Abertay.

 

 

MEET OUR FOUNDERS

  • Gregor Hofer, Co-founder & CEO

    Gregor holds a PhD in Informatics from the University of Edinburgh. Prior to co-founding Speech Graphics, he was a research fellow at the School of Informatics and a senior researcher at the Telecommunications Research Centre, Vienna, where he successfully commercialised a text-to-speech prototype that now powers several government webpages. Gregor co-authored grants worth £1.5M million to fund the commercialisation of technology. In addition to his full-time role at Speech Graphics he is a Supervisory Board member at System Industrie Electronic Holding AG.

  • Michael Berger, Co-founder & CTO

    Michael is a linguist, speech scientist and software engineer who has been a pioneering expert in the field of speech animation since 1995. He helped develop the first-ever automated talking head and co-authored a book on the subject, later developing state-of-the-art techniques in realistic synthesis of facial dynamics from audio. He previously founded a speech animation research business in the US. He architects Speech Graphics Technology and leads the team to strive ever toward perfection in audio-driven animation.

 

JOIN US!

We’re growing. If you’re interested in being part of the team, please visit the Careers page.