TIFCA is driven by a diverse group of technology, content, and user experience leaders and experts. Everyone has a shared enthusiasm for helping drive technology adoption and future innovation.
TIFCA’s Board of Directors acts as oversight and final approval guidance for TIFCA’s day to day operation.
Alan Price, President
Alan Price is currently the CTO for Vision Critical. Vision Critical provides a cloud-based customer intelligence platform that allows companies to build engaged, secure communities of customers they can use continuously, across the enterprise, for ongoing, real-time feedback and insight. Alan was previously CTO for Fuel Powered and CTO for Electronic Arts Canada.
Thomas Poppelgaard, Vice-President
With over 25 years of IT experience, Thomas works in Advisory, Business development, IT-strategy, Architectural designing, Planning, Implementation and troubleshooting capacities in Visual Computing, End-User Computing, and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). He is regularly involved in “proof of concept” initiatives to help demonstrate why businesses should adopt new technologies.
In Client-Cloud computing, Thomas helps international Fortune 500 companies design their next generation data centers. He also consults for companies that are developing new generations of centralized computing platforms. For example, in the virtual reality industry, Thomas created the first remote virtual reality solution that live-streamed content from Norway to the USA. He also worked with Citrix to make it possible to stream high-performance VR to an IGEL thinOS client running an HTC Vive. He has also contributed to Nvidia’s CloudXR efforts.
Some of Thomas’ credits and accreditations across the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and End User Computing (EUC) ecosystems include Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Enterprise Mobility (RDS,WVD), Citrix Technology Professional (CTP), NVIDIA (NGCA), Parallels VIPP, VMware (vExpert) and EUC Champion, E2EVC Senator.
Wanda Meloni, Vice-President
As CEO of M2 Insights Network, Wanda Meloni has become a sought-after international technology and entertainment strategist and has been working with top companies in digital media and entertainment for over 15 years. Focused on emerging technologies, she has a deep understanding of interactive media for content development, platforms/tech/games, community empowerment, customer engagement, and development trends. An avid supporter of diversity in the tech and games industry, Wanda works to support leadership opportunities in technology with a particular focus on women and minorities.
Wanda Meloni was a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Open Gaming Alliance.
TIFCA’s Chairs are the organization’s main listeners. They pay close attention to industry trends, engage in membership meetings, and make recommendations to TIFCA’s Executive Director on how to best proceed.
Dr. Jon Peddie, CEO
Jon Peddie Research
Dr. Jon Peddie is one of the pioneers of the graphics industry, and formed Jon Peddie Research (JPR) to provide customer intimate consulting and market forecasting services. Peddie lectures at numerous conferences on topics pertaining to graphics technology and the emerging trends in digital media technology. Regularly credited as one of the world’s most influential analysts, he regularly advises investors in the GLG network, he is frequently quoted in trade and business publications, was the former president of Siggraph Pioneers, and he is also the author or co-author of twelve books. His most recent works include “Augmented Reality: Where we Will All Live” and “The History of Visual Magic in Computers”. Dr. Peddie has also been honored by the CAD Society with a lifetime achievement award.
Mark Morrison, Co-Founder
ShowSpace Technologies
Mark T. Morrison is a spatial computing entrepreneur and co-founder of ShowSpace Technologies Inc. Mark has 30+ years in media, technology and entertainment experience working across the XR, games, and interactive/immersive landscapes. With a specialization in the business, sales, and marketing of software, hardware, and SaaS solutions, some of Mark’s career highlights include business development and strategic leadership roles at Unity Technologies, DAQRI, Magic Leap, uSens, and more.
Mark’s most recent venture is ShowSpace Technologies, a new professional presentation (software) framework that allows businesses and prosumers to easily present their business and brand stories and ideas in an immersive 3D presentation format. Aligned with the latest innovations in 3D digital development, real-time computing, and the future of human computing interaction in the ‘metaverse’, Mark is passionate about growing TIFCA and enabling its drive to make better technology experiences for all types of consumers.
Andrew Schmied, CSO
M2 Insights
Andrew Schmied is a graphics industry veteran, deep tech entrepreneur and CSO at M2 Insights. Andrew has 20 years of experience in bringing advanced HMI, 3D, MIMD IP and AI solutions to Entertainment, Research, Industrial and Defense sectors. Focused on science-driven discoveries and engineering innovations that disrupt and change markets, Andrew’s work with leaders such as Samsung, Apple, Microsoft, Intel, NASA and Lockheed Martin has created new digital experiences, environmental benefits, diagnostic explorations and safety capabilities. With expertise in strategic modelling, business development and private equity, Andrew has scaled numerous businesses for AMD and startups internationally. At M2 Insights, Andrew works with major corporations, startups, investors, institutions and media to provide sector-specific business intelligence and strategic outcomes.
TIFCA’s Executive Director reports to both the Chairs and the Board of Directors. The Executive Director is responsible for most of TIFCA’s day to day activity and is the first point of contact for the organization.
Neil Schneider, Executive Director
TIFCA
Neil Schneider is best known for founding Meant to be Seen (mtbs3D.com), the first modern stereoscopic 3D 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 also served as Manager of Immersive Technology Services for the Faculty of Business and IT at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, and was the founder of The Stereoscopic 3D Gaming Alliance which the Immersive Technology Alliance and TIFCA is born from.
TIFCA has a growing network of affiliate / liaison organizations with a shared interest in contributing to the CORA ecosystem. Each organization has the opportunity to have a representative at related TIFCA meetings.
Neil Trevett, President, Khronos Group
Vice President Developer Ecosystem, NVIDIA
Neil is the elected President of the Khronos Group industry standards consortium where he initiated the OpenGL ES standard now used by billions worldwide every day, helped catalyze the WebGL project to bring interactive 3D graphics to the Web, chairs the OpenCL working group defining the open standard for heterogeneous parallel computation and has helped establish and launch the new generation Vulkan API. Neil also works at Nvidia where he helps to drive and develop their developer ecosystem that enables applications to take advantage of advanced GPU and silicon acceleration.
Jean-Michel Blottière, CEO
RealTime Community (RTC)
Jean-Michel is CEO of the RealTime Community (RTC) and Founder of the RealTime Conference and RealTime Society. RealTime Society is a member-driven and collaborative problem-solving organization addressing topics such as Architecture/Engineering/Construction & Operations (AECO), Digital Fashion, Equity/Diversity & Inclusion (EDI), Interoperability/RealTime Standards, Narrative/Storytelling/Interactive Cinema, Recruiting/Training & Education, Virtual Production, and more. RealTIme Society brings together industry-leading companies and individuals on the forefront of real-time technology development and applications across industries.
TIFCA’s Advisory Board are specialized industry experts that provide guidance to the organization.
Carol Warren, Principal
Antarra Communications
As principal of Antarra Communications, and co-founder of CREW Communications, Carol Warren is responsible for the management, and strategic development of B-to-B and B-to-C technology accounts ranging from semiconductors to virtual reality. For over 20 years, she has managed extensive local, national and international marketing communications programs for global leaders to start-ups. Warren holds a Bachelor’s degree from California State University Long Beach, she attended CSULB and UCLA post grad.
Thorsten Stremlau,
Systems Principle Architect and Distinguished Engineer, CISSP
Nvidia
Thorsten’s focus is the security and manageability of Nvidia’s Hardware portfolio. Prior to Nvidia, Thorsten served as Chief Technologist and Executive Director for Lenovo’s Commercial Product Portfolio. His earlier roles at Lenovo also included Principal Engineer and Director for their Strategic Enterprise Consulting group, and Global Account Solutions Director EMEA and AP.
Thorsten’s interests in the CORA ecosystem are based on his continued experiences with client, cloud, and network connectivity.