Creating immersive products that improve lives

Amir Rubin is an entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in creating products that improve lives. Amir is the Founder and CEO of Sixense Enterprises Inc., a leading developer of immersive computing solutions across industries, including healthcare, training, and education.

Joel Breton is a pioneer of virtual reality content development and an award-winning video game developer. He has produced and developed more than twenty platinum-selling games, including Duke Nukem, Unreal, Terraria, & Payday 2. Joel was formerly the Vice President of global virtual reality content and General Manager of Vive Studios at HTC. While at HTC, he and his team partnered with worldwide content creators to develop and publish showcase content across all categories of VR, including Ready Player One: Oasis Beta, Knockout League, MakeVR Pro, TrueScale, Amazon Odyssey, Jam Studio VR, 7 Miracles, Operation Apex, Skyworld Kingdom Brawl, Arcade Saga,&Virtual Sports. He then led Vive Studio’s pioneering enterprise software initiative to develop and deploy immersive software solutions for global partnerships in the healthcare, entertainment, education and design industries. Joel spent four years at MTV Networks, where he served as Director of Content and worked with developers around the world to launch online, mobile, and console games. Joel also produced 7 Miracles, the world’s first feature-length VR film, and winner of the award for VR Film of the Festival at Raindance Film Festival in 2018.

An experienced strategist, Danielle comes from a diverse background in investing, entertainment, and technology. Prior to Sixense, Danielle focused on corporate strategy and strategic initiatives at Ingrooves, the media technology subsidiary of Universal Music Group. While there, Danielle spear-headed Ingroove’s VR/AR initiative where she developed strategies for implementation of immersive computing products for artists and independent labels that directly impacted the bottom line. Danielle joined the Sixense team in 2017 and is focused on finding ways to further expand the practical implementations of VR/AR — not only in assisting companies in bringing successful VR/AR solutions to the market — but in ensuring that these solutions improve lives.

Over 20 years in finance, including investment banking and private equity, with firms such as Robertson Stephens in San Francisco and Citigroup in New York and London.

Oded Zur brings over 25 years of experience leading technology and product development at several medical and multi-media startup companies. Oded served as VP of R&D and system development manager at two medical companies which developed image guided navigation systems, Activiews and superDimension. At superDimension he played a major role in the development of the company’s electro-magnetic navigation system for early detection of lung cancer (superDimension was acquired in 2012 by Covidien for $350 M). Prior to joining superDimension, he was one of the founders of Interactive Light, a startup company based in the USA that developed IR tracking and sensing products for multi-media applications. Oded holds a BSc. in Electrical Engineering and an MBA from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.

Nereida Rosado at a very early age developed a love of technology and all things digital.

She has over 15+ years of experience in the tech industry with backgrounds in healthcare, Insurance, marketing, ecommerce, social media and VR. She has been involved in every aspect of the solutions built, from deployment, to data structures, to analysis, querying and UI, as well as non-functional concerns such as security and performance.

In her spare time, she volunteers to mentor young Latina women in her community to encourage, motivate, and empower them to be innovators and leaders through programs that aim to fill the diversity gap in STEM.

Ali has over 14 years experience in the video game industry as a software engineer shipping several AAA titles. Before that he graduated from the University of Arizona with a BS in Computer Science and spent a few years working with embedded systems. Ali has been interested in working with VR since childhood and he’s now “living the dream”. These days he is involved in managing and contributing to all the technical aspects of development at Sixense from the Sixense SDK to the Portal 2 MotionPack.

With more than a decade of game design experience, and having shipped several AAA titles, Danny is armed with passion, dedication and knowledge; ready to take on any challenge. As Creative Director he is a driving force behind Sixense, helping them attain their goal of pioneering the next generation of interaction using intuitive motion input for Virtual Reality. Danny holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology from Central Washington University.

Constantine brings over 30 years of quality driven product development expertise to the software development industry. Constantine has led the development and production effort on numerous award-winning games and products, serving in Executive Producer, Studio Head and GM capacities for Hasbro, Atari, Sega, Looking Glass, Glu Mobile and Limbic Software. An accomplished guitar player and songwriter, Constantine also collects vintage guitars and amplifiers, and is an avid board gamer.

Twenty years as an engineer and manager in the video game and simulation industries. Extensive background in the design, implementation, testing, application, and documentation of new products and technologies. The last eight years have been spent developing AR, VR, and Mixed-reality products.

With over 10 years at Sixense, Jeremy has been involved with virtually all aspects with Sixense’s growth and success. His current role of VP of Operations and Controller has him overseeing the day to day operations of Sixense as well as handling internal accounting procedures. Jeremy attended Trinity University where he received a Bachelor of Science with accounting concentration.

With 12 years of experience directing art pipelines for immersive applications with Sixense, Dan serves an integral role in our continued success producing beautiful and engaging experiences, tailored to suite a wide range of AR/VR hardware.

Janice Brown is a Principal in Meyers Nave’s Labor and Employment Practice, Workplace Investigations Practice and Commercial Litigation Practice. She has more than 35 years of trial, arbitration and appellate experience in state and federal courts. Janice is recognized as a pioneer in the legal profession as the founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Brown Law Group, a woman-and minority-owned employment and business litigation firm in San Diego that served local corporations and Fortune 50 companies headquartered throughout the U.S. for over 20 years. She is a trusted advisor to clients, an inspirational mentor to colleagues and an influential leader in advancing diversity throughout the legal profession.

Walter Greenleaf PhD is a neuroscientist and a medical technology developer working at Stanford University. With over three decades of research and development experience, Walter is considered a leading authority in the fields of digital medicine and medical virtual reality technology

Currently a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, the Director of Technology Strategy at the University of Colorado National Mental Health Innovation Center, and Member of the Board of Directors for Brainstorm: The Stanford Laboratory for Brain Health Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

In addition to his research at Stanford University, Walter is currently the technology and neuroscience advisor to several early-stage medical product companies and accelerator / incubator programs.

Samantha has worked as a counselor, advocate, program administrator, and educator in the field of sexual violence prevention and the psychology of human relationships for over two decades.

As a doctoral student, Samantha studied the activation of bystander engagement practices among college students. Dr. Ross’s work in the field of sexual violence began during her master’s degree practicum and continues in her work as a consultant. She has seen the resilience of survivors, and her work as a counselor and advocate in supporting victims through the recovery journey has made her passionate about developing effective and sustainable solutions to address sexual violence in collegiate, community, corporate and military settings.

Most recently, she served as the first Program Manager for the Sexual Harassment and Assault Response and Prevention (SHARP) Program at the United States Military Academy. During her five-year tenure in this position, Samantha developed and managed the institutional efforts to prevent and respond to incidents of sexual violence, integrating guidance from external stakeholders, to include members of Congress, Department of Defense and the Department of the Army, into the vision and mission of the institutional leadership

Skip Rizzo is a clinical psychologist and Director of Medical VR at the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies. He is also a Research Professor with the USC Dept. of Psychiatry and School of Gerontology.

Over the last 25 years, Skip has conducted research on the design, development and evaluation of Virtual Reality systems targeting the areas of clinical assessment, treatment, and rehabilitation across the domains of psychological, cognitive and motor functioning in both healthy and clinical populations. This work has focused on PTSD, TBI, Autism, ADHD, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke and other clinical conditions. In spite of the diversity of these clinical R&D areas, the common thread that drives all of his work with digital technologies involves the study of how Virtual Reality simulations can be usefully applied to human healthcare beyond what’s possible with traditional 20th Century methods.

Mark Lee Romanek is an American director of feature films, music videos,
commercials and television.

Romanek has made two, highly-acclaimed feature films. In 2002, he wrote
and directed One Hour Photo, starring Robin Williams. In his four-star
review, Roger Ebert called the film, “Robin Williams’ finest hour.”
He also directed Never Let Me Go, an adaptation of Nobel Prize winner
Kazuo Ishiguro’s beloved novel of the same name. The film was chosen to
be the Opening Night Event of the 2010 London Film Fesitval. In Vanity
Fair, Bruce Handy called it, “The most beautiful and cerebral science fiction
film since 2001: A Space Odyssey.” The film stars Carey Mulligan, Andrew
Garfield, Keira Knightley, Sally Hawkins and Charlotte Rampling.
A legend in the world of music-video, Romanek has worked with artists
such as Jay-Z, Beyonce, Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga, Johnny Cash,
Michael Jackson, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Taylor Swift, Trent Reznor and
many others. His music videos have won numerous awards, including 20
MTV Music Video Awards and three Grammy Awards for Best Short Form
Music Video.

His work in television includes episode three of HBO’s Vinyl (produced by
Martin Scorsese), and the pilot for Amazon Prime’s 2020 series, Tales
From The Loop, based on the science-fiction paintings of Simon Stålenhag,
starring Rebecca Hall and Jonathan Pryce.

In addition to directing over three dozen TV spots and films for Apple,
Romanek has crafted stylish ads for Nike, IBM, Tiffany & Co, Honda,
Yoplait, Crocs, Calvin Klein and many other brands.

Futurist, Paramount Pictures

Ted spends his time and pursues his passion in a unique role in the motion picture entertainment industry.

As the Futurist at Paramount pictures, Ted works with studio leadership and the technology teams at Paramount / Viacom/CBS, exploring forms of new and emerging technologies, with an emphasis on Virtual and Mixed Reality.

Prior to joining Paramount, Ted was the Futurist at 20th Century Fox, where he worked on the evolving art, science and technology of advanced interactive visual storytelling. He was part of the creation team for the Martian VR and Wild VR experiences, which premiered at CES and Sundance as groundbreaking projects that pushed the envelope of Virtual Reality storytelling,

In addition, Ted was part of the creation teams for the Alien, Planet of the Apes and Predator VR experiences at Fox, and at his current home at Paramount Pictures, he’s been instrumental in bringing the Grease Mixed Reality experience, the Light as a Feather mixed reality experience and the Quiet Place Virtual Reality experience to life.

Ted was an integral part of the product development team at Red Digital Cinema as the company’s first employee. The Red One and Epic cameras have made a significant impact on the Motion Picture Industry, winning a scientific and technical academy award. Many of the world’s biggest movies are now being shot with these ultra high resolution digital movie cameras.

Ted is one of the founders and creators of the G-Tech product line of advanced hard drive storage products. As one of the most recognized brands in that industry, they are implemented worldwide at the highest levels on cinema, episodic television, sports and news production.

In his role as Chief Creative Officer at Barco Escape, he spearheaded an experimental immersive cinema project for movie theaters worldwide. Titles include Paramount Pictures Star Trek Beyond and 20th Century Fox Maze Runner & Maze Runner 2.

Before being part of the founding teams at Red Digital Cinema and G-Tech, Ted was on the team that developed and launched the Macintosh desktop video division of AJA Video Systems, creating professional video products in tandem with Apple. These products are used on a massive scale worldwide for video production and post at the highest levels, on many of the world’s biggest movies, TV series and sporting events.

The bulk of Ted’s pro-bono work focuses on the intersection of technology and next generation healthcare initiatives. He’s worked with the Neurosurgery department at UCLA on a groundbreaking Virtual Reality project for surgeon training and patient education, and has just joined the board of the Mofitt cancer research center in Central Florida to work with the teams there on advanced Mixed Reality healthcare exploration for the expansion for their new campus.

Ted has presented worldwide at numerous conferences on the advancements in next generation visual experiences for the movie, television and, interactive entertainment industries. He’s been featured in Wired, Variety, NY Times, LA Times, Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, The Hollywood Reporter, NBC, CNET, Studio Daily, Videography, Film and Video, DV Magazine, TV Technology, HD Video Pro, Engadget, Gizmodo, Millimeter, American Cinematographer, MacWorld, Post Magazine, Popular Science, and countless other publications discussing his areas of passion and exploration. In 2019, Ted was honored at the Variety Hall of Fame event with the Variety Innovation Award.

The Founder and President of Champion the Challenges Organization, a non-profit focused on reimagining the stroke rehabilitation journey. Deb is a three-time stroke survivor, which is driving her passion to help stroke survivors, families, and friends discover their inner strength. She was formerly the Head of Global Customer Service for Net Optics, a network and security access company that was acquired by Ixia in 2013. Deb previously held roles working in executive positions working with business and government leaders.

Jordan Rice currently serves as Senior Director of Smart Systems at Nike, Inc, a position he has held since June 2015. Previously, Mr. Rice served as Vice President of Product Development at Quanttus, a MIT spin-out venture-backed startup based out of Cambridge, MA that aimed to develop the ``unkiller`` wearable application via continuous key vitals monitoring mixed with artificial intelligence.

Before joining Quanttus, Mr. Rice served as the Director of Product Development Engineering with Nike from 2012 to July 2013. In this role, he focused on the design, engineering and production of Nike+ FuelBand & Nike+ FuelBand SE, among other Nike+ enabled devices. From 2010 to 2012, Mr. Rice was a Product Architect on the Digital Sport team at Nike, outlining and delivering product technologies from concept to mass production, and supporting NPI across greater Asia and North America for small and large-scale manufacturing.

Prior to joining Nike, Mr. Rice served as the Senior Product Development Director at Synapse Product Development from 2008 until 2010. He began his time with Synapse as a Program Director and Technical Lead from 2005 to 2008.

Mr. Rice started in engineering product development as a Technical Associate for Optical Data Networks Research Group at Lucent Bell Laboratories from 2000 to 2003. He co-founded and served as Vice President at Faradic Internet Services, L.L.C. from 1997 to 2002. Mr. Rice holds more than fifteen patents in the consumer electronics, manufacturing, and athletic monitoring space. He earned a BSEE and a MSEE from Bucknell University.

Doctor Rodriguez is a costa rican Clinical Neuropsychologist working on awake-patient brain tumor surgeries since 2008. He Holds a doctorate degree from Salamanca University in Spain and has specific brain mapping training from CHU Guy de Chauliac, Montpellier France. He has served as neuroscience consultant for the World Bank, Panamerican Health Organization,World Health Organization, INCAE Business School and West Virginia University Hospital. As a researcher and professor Dr.Rodriguez regularly conducts research and teaches in the field of behavioral economics, specifically in the field of cognitive biases and financial decision making (risky behaviors). Right now he is exploring the incorporation of Virtual Reality into awake patient brain tumor surgeries for emotion mapping.

Jason is a proven senior executive with nearly 30 years of experience leveraging advanced
technologies to drive innovation and business results. His roles have included new practice
development, strategic account management, strategy consulting, enterprise solution
architecture, P&L management, and innovation/research leader. He brings a unique blend of
skills and experience to look at emerging technology areas such as virtual reality through the
lens of how these can revolutionize customer experiences and be practically developed and
managed within the enterprise.

He most recently led Accenture’s Extended Reality (XR) practice focused on the development
and growth of an entirely new service offering focused on the application of augmented and
virtual reality for Accenture’s clients. He drove the growth of this business from its founding in
2017 to a team of over 100 practitioners and sales of over $65 million in 3 years. Jason has been
heavily immersed in the XR field for the past decade, initially getting involved in 2012 while as a
Vice-President at Sapient as the co-lead of the Target Innovation Center in San Francisco (a
partnership between Target and Sapient). The charter of this innovation center was researching
emerging technology trends that would impact the future of retail and consumer experiences.

Prior to Accenture, Jason spent nearly two decades at Sapient helping to grow the company
from 300 employees in 1996 to over 12,000 when it was sold to Publicis in 2015. He played a
wide variety of roles there but was primarily focused on providing services to clients ranging
from strategic consulting, enterprise solution architecture, large-scale program management,
and business operationalization. He has worked across a wide range of industries including
retail, consumer goods, entertainment, and high-tech companies such as Target, Nike, Kaiser
Permanente, Disney, and Sony Electronics.

A 25+ year marketing communications veteran who has worked in or consulted with 75+ technology and video game companies.

Riley Russell brings more than 25 years of direct experience working in the games and interactive entertainment industry.

Mr. Russell’s primary role has been in legal and is currently active as the Chief Legal Officer of Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC. His career however, has spanned multiple roles during his tenure in the industry including: serving on the original ratings committee that created the ESA, ESRB and ultimately E3; he has produced games, film, and television (all based on video game characters); headed Sony’s publisher relationships during the turbulent PS3 Launch; (successfully) dealt with what was at the time the largest known privacy breach; was a nemesis of hackers, appeared to assist with testimony in the Senate and the House, and has licensed balloons for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. In 2019, coming full circle, he re-joined the Entertainment Software Association and Entertainment Software Ratings Board as Sony’s representative. He holds three issued patents, has been involved in Virtual and Augmented VR since 1993. Somewhat embarrassingly, he is self-described as “the most credited man in video game history”, based on decades of receiving “Special Thanks to” credits and which he quickly adds self-depreciatingly: “is probably good evidence of a misspent career.”

Russell oversees a worldwide legal group specializing in interactive entertainment and in such diverse fields as computer and entertainment law, technology licensing, sports and character licensing, intellectual property and general business law. Russell's legal career has included all aspects of video games, game consoles, television and theatrical production, patent and copyright litigation, technical asset licensing, and complex litigation. From 2005 to 2008 Russell served as head Sony Computer Entertainment’s SVP of Third Party Relations and Developer Support, managing licensed publisher relationships and strategic product planning in support for all PlayStation platforms, but most notably for the 2006 launch of the PlayStation®3 (PS3™) entertainment system. In 2015 Russell served as the interim head of Human Resources at Sony Interactive Entertainment, and most recently in 2016, Russell, was the credited Executive Producer of Ratchet and Clank, the Movie, a film based on a game that was based on the movie.

Prior to joining Sony, Russell held the positions of Corporate Counsel and Director of Legal and Business affairs for Sega of America, Inc. Early in his career Mr. Russell was a litigation associate with the law firm Anderlini, Guheen, Finklestein and Emerick. Russell is a member of several organizations, including the California and American Bar Associations, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, he sits on the board of the Entertainment Software Association and Entertainment Software Ratings Board, and also the XRA, which is the Virtual and Augmented industry’s association of the major hardware manufacturers of virtual reality hardware.

Russell received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley, his Master of Arts degree in Economics from the University of California at Davis and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Santa Clara in California.

Nat Tilahun has over 30 years experience in Architecture/Engineering/Construction industry, with specialized competency in project, program and construction management, quality management and process improvement. He has hands on experience in Research and Development Facilities, Federal and Public institutional projects, long term client relationship development and engagement.
In his tenure with Jacobs Nat has served in leadership roles on multiple international projects in Africa, Asia and Europe.

A forward-thinking and highly accomplished senior entertainment and educational software development executive with global expertise in strategic planning, product innovation, people management and transformational leadership. Now providing strategic, content and product development consulting services to business clients.

Tom has spent his career building companies based on disruptive technology, serving in executive and advisory roles for both public companies and venture capital backed startups. For the last ten years, he has focused on data-drive applications and machine learning. Tom is also a stroke survivor and advocate since 2016.