- published: 04 Mar 2015
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Bradley R. Wardell (born 24 June 1971), commonly known as Brad Wardell, is an American businessman, programmer and author residing in Michigan. He is the founder, President, and CEO of Stardock, a software development and computer games company.
Wardell's specialty is the design and programming of artificial intelligence and game mechanics for turn-based strategy games.
Wardell built PCs and worked as a check proofer to fund his education at Western Michigan University. He graduated in 1994 with a degree in Electronic Engineering, specializing in Computer Engineering.
Wardell's first notable achievement was the design and implementation of Galactic Civilizations for OS/2, one of the platform's few games. He led development of OS/2 Essentials, followed by Object Desktop, a package of utilities and desktop enhancements.
Wardell remained an OS/2 advocate for years; in 1996 he won OS/2 Professional's "Corporate Commitment" award. When the OS/2 market collapsed, he guided Stardock to Windows, heading development of PC game Entrepreneur (now The Corporate Machine) while coordinating the creation of WindowBlinds and other Object Desktop components.