Fil-Am ‘tech guru’ lands on Forbes list of under 30 achievers

A young New Jersey-born Filipino-American made it to Forbes magazine’s list of “30 Under 30: The Brightest Young Stars in Video Games.”

Justin Ignacio, 23, broadcast manager at Twitch, was included by Forbes on its list of up-and-coming stars in the video games industry doing groundbreaking work, disrupting traditional business models, and establishing themselves as leaders.

“The tech guru known to gamers as ‘TheGunRun’ helps keep thousands of simultaneous video streams running on the e-Sports website Twitch,” Forbes said of Ignacio.

“He manages some of the site’s biggest live events including the DOTA 2 International and League of Legends Championship Series, and provides expert help to individual ‘streamers’ when they can’t get their games up and running,” it said.

Ignacio is a semantics and broadcast radio graduate of Burlington County College in New Jersey.

The Ignacio family is based in Westampton Township, N.J., but Ignacio moved to the San Francisco Bay Area since joining Twitch, according to his mother, Lea, a registered nurse from Canlaon City, Negros Oriental.

“We were surprised when we learned that he was featured in Forbes,” Mrs. Ignacio told the Filipino Reporter.

“We’re not really familiar with the nature of his work because it’s too technical for us, his parents. But we know he’s really enjoying what he’s doing and we are very proud of him.”

Ignacio’s father, Florendo, is from Masantol, Pampanga. He is a retired U.S. Navy personnel.

Ignacio has a brother, Allan, who is in high school.

“Both brothers are very smart and are computer savvy,” said Lina Sumanga, a family friend.

“They are both good kids and adorable.” — Filipino Reporter