Taking Place at the Palms Las Vegas Resort & Casino.

Jan 7, 2016 1:00PM to 6:15PM PST (after registration)

Agenda

Subject to change without notice.

Speakers List
Subject to change without notice.

Christopher Crescitelli, Founder
VR Fest

Christopher Crescitelli has been a career freelance creative artist, writer, producer, and director for 25 years. His creative collaborations cover the spectrum of artistic expression from film, television, and theatrical projects to newly emerging 3D, 4D & Virtual Reality entertainment technologies and live event marketing ventures.

Alex Davies, Writer
Tom’s Hardware

As a writer, Alex covers Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Mobile Devices for Tom’s Hardware, one of the oldest (since 1996) and largest enthusiast technology news and reviews websites on the web. Prior to writing for Tom’s, Alex has contributed to various other technology news websites such as Mobile Syrup and IT Business Canada.

As a long time computer gaming enthusiast (he built his first gaming PC in 1991) and science fiction fan, he has long dreamed of being able to enter the Metaverse. It wasn’t until he used modern HMDs that he really understood the immense trans-formative potential of this new technology.

As a film fan and former film student, Alex also understands how these new technologies will forever change the way stories are told, and he is hoping he can play a part in helping talented creatives understand and work in this new medium.

Nick DiCarlo, Vice President/General Manager of Immersive Products & Virtual Reality
Samsung Telecommunications America

Mr. DiCarlo is leading Samsung’s Virtual Reality (VR) efforts in the United States including strategy across channels, hardware, services, sales and partnerships. Samsung sees virtual reality as a long term opportunity in a range of industries, and will contribute by helping VR become more accessible to more people through simple and compelling experiences. In his previous role at Samsung, Nick served as VP of Product Planning and Product Marketing guiding the product strategies that have powered Samsung USA’s growth in smartphones and tablets, including the launch of iconic new franchises of Galaxy S, Galaxy Note and Gear. Nick holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Bucknell University located in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. He also received an M.B.A. from University of Texas at Austin.

Manuel R. Gutierrez Novelo, CEO, ImmersiON-VRelia

Manuel founded TDVision in 2003 providing an entire solution for the full HD 3D to the home ecosystem in 2006, now ISO MVC standardized for Blu-ray 3D and internationally awarded with a Lumiere 2013 for his contributions to the 3D industry.

Manuel is heading up ImmersiON-VRelia, a company developing high-end head mounted displays along with metaverse software tools.

James Jensen, Chief Visionary Officer & Founder
THE VOID

Based in Saltlake, Utah, The Void is a new class of virtual reality amusement parks that features enriching visual, auditory, and haptics experiences. In his earlier career of creating designs and development solutions for web, mobile, gaming and visual effects, James has worked with companies like MTV, Novell, Hewlett Packard, Sony Pictures, Overstock, Microsoft, Tribune Entertainment, Dream Works and Scifi.

Dr. Jason Jerald, Co-Founder and Principal Consultant
NextGen Interactions

Dr. Jerald has been creating 3D computer graphics and next-generation computer interfaces for over 20 years. Jason has held various technical and leadership positions and currently serves on multiple conference committees and advisory boards. His work has been featured on ABC’s Shark Tank and the Discovery Channel, in the New York Times, and on the cover of the MIT Press Journal Presence: Teleoperators and Telepresence. He has worked with various organizations including Fortune 500 companies (General Motors, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin), research institutions (NASA Ames, Argonne National Labs, Pacific Northwest National Laboratories), game companies (Valve, Oculus VR, Sixense Entertainment), and startups (e.g., Virtuix, CI Dynamics, Spot On Performance). Jason’s book ‘Perceptual and Interaction Design for Virtual Reality’ was a top seller at SIGGRAPH 2015 and will be available in wide release shortly.

Han Jin, CEO
LucidCam

Han is a Berkeley engineer turned into serial entrepreneur after working in consumer electronics. Han loves founding startups, hacking hardware and listening to users. His strength in manufacturing and go-to-market strategy helped him successfully ramp up several products to mass production.

LucidCam is a new on-the-go virtual reality camera that works with smartphones.

Karl Krantz, Founder and Chief Curator
Silicon Valley Virtual Reality (SVVR)

Karl heads up SVVR, a growing community of developers, entrepreneurs, and early-adopters dedicated to advancing the consumer virtual reality ecosystem. SVVR hosts monthly meetups and the annual SVVR Conference & Expo in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Previous to SVVR, Karl led Teliris Telepresence Research Labs, an R&D group in a leading telepresence company, where he designed high-end, low-latency enterprise video and collaboration tools for Fortune 500 companies. His name is featured on multiple patents in telepresence technology. In 2012, Karl made the jump from telepresence to virtual reality, and hasn’t looked back since.

Srinivas Krishna, CEO
AWE Company Ltd.

Srinivas is currently launching one of the world’s largest augmented and virtual reality experiences at the nine acre Fort York National Historic Site in downtown Toronto.  His work as a digital media innovator has been applauded by Canada’s national newspaper, The Globe and Mail, as “utterly breathtaking… genius.”  Srinivas founded AWE Company Ltd. in 2012, and it has rapidly grown to become a leading developer and provider of advanced mobile augmented and virtual reality software and professional services.  Prior to AWE, Krishna has produced and sold feature films that have premiered at Toronto, Sundance and Cannes, and have been distributed worldwide. He launched his career in 1991 with the international hit Masala, which was voted by the British Film Institute among the Top Ten South Asian Diaspora Films of the 20th Century and is a classic of world cinema.

Dario Laverde, Senior Developer Evangelist
HTC

Dario is a senior developer evangelist at HTC. He has 20+ years experience in software development for mobile, embedded, Web and enterprise. Among his various professional roles, he has worked as an Android instructor, consultant, Java architect, author and entrepreneur. Dario leads NYC-GDG, NYCJava JUG, and co-organizes the New York Android Developers meetup. Recent conference talks include Android, IoT and VR, specifically promoting room scale VR development with Unity and additional tools with step by step tutorials.

Emmanuel Marquez, CTO, Starbreeze Studios

Colonel Kevin Mastin (retired), Director of Business Development
AO&A

AO&A helps clients deliver extraordinary guest experiences like theme parks, resorts, restaurants, or other themed destinations. They help guide clients with every aspect of development: from creative concept and design through construction.

Colonel Kevin Mastin (retired) is a former Air Force officer and fighter pilot who has commanded and led award-winning organizations with as many as 1,500 team members. He has extensive experience with team building, strategic planning, inter-agency coordination, diplomacy, and contingency operations.

In addition to flying and instructing in the T-37B, T-38A, T-38C and F-15C, Kevin also flew the F-16C as the Opposing and then Lead Solo Pilot for the USAF Thunderbirds Air Demonstration Team where he performed in over 120 airshows in front of millions of people throughout the world displaying the capabilities of Air Force pilots and front-line fighter aircraft. Prior to his retirement from the Air Force, Kevin was the Professor of Aerospace Studies at the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.

Morris May, Founder
Specular Theory

Mr. May has been a special effects expert in the motion picture industry for more than 25 years, working on 30+ Hollywood films, including two Academy Award winners: Spiderman II (which won for Best Visual Effects), and Happy Feet (Best Animated Feature Film). Morris is an avid surfer, kitesurfer and snowboarder. He has been a speaker and panelist for numerous tech and VR events including TEDx, Singularity University, Digital LA, Digital Hollywood and is member of MaiTai Global.

Ryan McCall, Director of Sales & Business Development
Futuremark

Ryan leads the Futuremark North American team and is responsible for growing their industry leading benchmarking business throughout the Americas and Europe. He has an extensive background in engineering design, business development and sales, and working with leading consumer electronics companies. Futuremark is preparing to release their DX12 version of 3DMark as well as VRMark, a virtual reality and augmented reality benchmark, in early 2016.

Myles McGovern, President, IM360

IM360 is a joint venture between Immersive Media Company and Digital Domain Holdings Limited. Myles is also President and CEO of Immersive Media Company (IMC). IMC’s revolutionary 360° video technology has been changing the face of interactivity across the web, mobile devices and VR, creating a new standard for the way we interact with video in the entertainment market.

Under Myles’ direction, Immersive Media has pioneered and become the world’s leading provider of 360° interactive video. Starting with military and intelligence applications, the technology was popularized when Immersive Media brought the concept of “Street View” to Google. It has since become the industry standard for interactive second screen experiences. From working with top brands such as Converse, Samsung and Mountain Dew, breaking new ground for American Express “Unstaged,” with the Taylor Swift video, “Blank Spaces,” to the live streaming of an NHL game, Immersive Media is changing the way we view entertainment.

Wanda Meloni, Executive Director
Open Gaming Alliance

Wanda has published numerous reports and articles over the years on game development, software tools, and technology trends. Through M2 Research, she has provided strategy, business intelligence, and community building for some of the top entertainment, consumer goods, and technology companies, as well as advising a wide range of game developers, smaller tool providers, investment firms, and international trade agencies.

Wanda is a recognized industry expert and is frequently quoted in Fortune, Fast Company, and other leading periodicals, and she frequently speaks at numerous trade events including GDC, CES, NAB, Casual Connect, and GameStop Expo.

PJ Morreale, Senior Director of Operations and Head of YouVisit Studios
YouVisit Studios

In addition to managing YouVisit’s entire implementation team, PJ works closely with the technology, marketing and business development teams to help keep YouVisit at the forefront of immersive virtual experiences. Before joining YouVisit, PJ was the Director of New Media and Web Development at the Peddie School in New Jersey, where he also taught video and photography classes. He continues to develop his technical skills behind the lens by tinkering with new products and discovering unique ways to capture landscapes and life.

Jose Luis Navarro, CEO, InMediaStudio

Based in Madrid, InMediaStudio is a full service company that specializes in developing tailor made immersive solutions for clients from multiple sectors. They have over two years of experience developing innovative projects in Spain and worldwide where they apply a combination of VR, AR and Motion Capture Technologies. They are also experts in the production of 360 degree video. Their most recent projects include virtual reality experiences that are tied in with the films Mission Impossible 5 and Tomorrowland.

Cliff Plumer, President
Jaunt Studios

Cliff is responsible for the development of content and production at Jaunt. Prior to joining Jaunt, Cliff was an angel investor and advisor to Oculus Rift, a Board of Director to Telltale Games, and a Producer of VR content for the launch of the Samsung Gear VR. As CEO of Digital Domain, the company won an Academy Award for visual effects on the movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, in addition to receiving Technical Achievement awards from the Academy for innovation. At Digital Domain, Cliff established a studio in Vancouver and a Virtual Production Studio in Los Angeles. As CTO of Lucasfilm, Cliff directed the construction of the technical infrastructure of The Letterman Digital Arts Center in San Francisco, and the Lucasfilm Studio in Singapore. He worked closely with George Lucas on the development of the first Digital Cinema production for the Star Wars Trilogy. Cliff has worked on over 100 Hollywood feature films and television series. He began his career at NBC.

Tero Sarkkinen, CEO & Co-Founder
Basemark

Basemark is a leading company dedicated to the performance and power consumption measurement of processors and devices. Previously, Tero founded Rightware, a company renowned for its user interface solution now shipping in over 20 million cars globally. Besides growing and managing companies in his home country Finland, Tero has lived and worked 2 years in Shanghai and 7 years in San Francisco Bay area thus developing a well rounded understanding of the global high technology industry.

Tero prides himself with 18 years of experience in computer graphics technology and a deep understanding of both the technological and business issues facing the industry.

Daryl Sartain, ITA VR Council Chair, Director of VR for AMD

Daryl Sartain is the Director of VR for Advanced Micro Devices. He has 28 years of experience in research and development, product development and management for integrated circuits, software development, system design, system engineering, information technology, marketing, and program management. Mr Sartain’s previous roles at AMD included Director of Strategic Business Development for AMD’s Innovative Systems Group and Director of the Desktop Division where he led desktop product business planning and product management in AMD’s Microprocessor Business Unit. He was responsible for the AMD Athlon™ 64 FX, Athlon™ 64, Athlon™ XP and Sempron™ processors. Mr. Sartain’s career also features top brands like Texas Instruments, ESS Technology Inc., Locale Systems Corporation, Vennworks and Cirrus Logic.

Neil Schneider, Executive Director
The Immersive Technology Alliance

Neil Schneider is best known for founding Meant to be Seen (mtbs3D.com), the first modern stereoscopic 3D and VR gaming community and the launch point of products like The Oculus Rift, the Virtuix Omni, the open source Vireio Perception VR drivers, and more. Neil is also the founder of The Stereoscopic 3D Gaming Alliance which the Immersive Technology Alliance is born from.

Frank Soqui, General Manager Enthusiast Desktop Group
Intel Corporation

Frank is a 34 year veteran at Intel, serving in a diverse set of leadership roles including; telecommunications design and marketing, desktop motherboard and systems product marketing, Digital Office marketing, planning, strategy and engineering, as well as communications and embedded platform market enabling covering strategic planning, engineering, ecosystem enabling and industry marketing. Frank was a strong Intelligent Systems Group and Sponsors of Tomorrow champion creating a highly visible presence via interviews, keynotes, and commercials increasing the awareness and driving success of intelligent systems initiatives.

Mary Spio, President & Founder
Next Galaxy Corp.

Mary Spio is best known for creating and holding patents on the technology used for the digital distribution of movies over satellite and for demographically targeted distribution of digital media. The technology was commercialized via Boeing Digital Cinema for the release of movies such as Star Wars Episode 2 – Attack of the Clones.

Mary is an avid 3D enthusiast and loves all things immersive. As the founder of CEEK – a fully immersive social entertainment and educational hub for VR and CEEKARS a first of its kind virtual reality audio headphone, she aims to build the gateway to the virtual web or the metaverse as well as the next generation of educational tools leveraging VR.

Spio’s companies have created content solutions and or technology for global titans including Microsoft XBOX, Coca Cola Company, Tribune News Company (Parent of LA Times, Chicago Times etc), Emmis Communications, Billboard Awards, Lincoln-Ford and scores of iconic celebrities, retailers, radio station groups and much more.

An accomplished author, Mary Spio is a contributor to the New York Times Bestselling Series, Chicken Soup for the Soul. Mary Spio is the author of the novel A Song for Carmine and the Author of It’s Not Rocket Science – 7 Game-Changing Traits for Achieving Uncommon Success (Penguin Books, Winter 2014).

Louisa Spring, CEO
BIPOLAR ID

Louisa believes that Convergence is King. A native of Great Britain, she is an award-winning film producer, talent manager and entrepreneur. Ms. Spring has now set her sights on combining storytelling with virtual reality and as CEO of Bipolar ID she has found that dream combination. With Bipolar ID creating cinematic virtual reality films Ms. Spring can now combine her expertise in the worlds of television and film with virtual reality. Ms. Spring has enjoyed working with the highest levels of executives in the film and television world and collaborating as a television producer with Far Moor, (The Fall, Netflix), Barry Films, (Life) and James Spring (Colonia—Toronto International Film Festival 2016) on Morphobia a series based on dream manipulation.

Louisa Spring founded Spring Management in 1999 and has represented some of the UK’s most iconic and beloved actors such as John Rhys-Davies (Lord Of The Rings, Indiana Jones), Roger Moore (James Bond, The Saint), In addition to these UK icons, Ms. Spring has represented Chris Judge (Stargate SG-1) — confirming her sci-fi and geek status in the biz.

Roy Taylor, Corporate Vice-President Alliances,
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)

AMD designs and integrates technology that powers millions of intelligent devices, including Virtual Reality HMDs. AMD’s LiquidVR™ technology is aimed at enabling a fully immersive and comfortable virtual reality experience by creating a new programming model that fully exploits the capabilities of modern GPUs, like AMD Radeon™ products.

Neil Trevett,
VP Mobile Ecosystem, Nvidia
President, The Khronos Group

Neil Trevett is VP Mobile Ecosystem at Nvidia where he works to enable advanced apps such as Augmented Reality to make effective use of advanced silicon acceleration for vision and graphics processing. Neil is also President of the Khronos Group that defines the leading open standard acceleration APIs. At Khronos, Neil initiated the OpenGL ES 3D graphics API, helped catalyze the development of WebGL and Vulkan, and chairs the OpenCL working group for heterogeneous parallel computation. Neil is also an active member of The Immersive Technology Alliance’s Advisory Board.

Lochlainn Wilson, CTO
FOVE

Lochlainn is an expert in facial recognition technology, who has top-notch skills in image processing and mathematical solutions. Before FOVE, he worked at an Australian startup to develop algorithms for facial recognition software used by surveillance cameras at major airports. A natural tinkerer who taught himself rapid prototyping, FOVE combines his passions for eye-tracking algorithms and hardware design into one seamless package.