Monday, January 7th, 2019

11:30 – 12:30 PM

Session I

LVCC, North Hall, N258

AR/VR/MR Everywhere: Hospitality, Arcades and Theme Parks

VR/AR/MR is an explosive advertising, entertainment and immersive market representing tremendous commercial success. It’s about AR in the streets of your city to larger than life immersive experiences in Theme Parks and Arcades. XR is the essential Hollywood tent-pole brand extension.

Joanna Popper, Global Head of VR, Location Based Entertainment, HP

Ryan Pullliam, CMO, Speaker and Co-Founder, Specular Theory

Brad Herman, Co-Founder, Chief Technology Officer, SPACES Inc.

Jennifer Chavarria, Head of Studio, Kite and Lightning

Alasdair Lennox, Executive Creative Director, FITCH

Moderator - Mark Kapczynski, President, Storymill

Joanna Popper is a Hollywood and Silicon Valley executive with experience in TV, Digital, Film and VR/AR. She just joined HP as Global Lead of Virtual Reality, Location Based Entertainment. Most recently she’s been the EVP of Media and Marketing at Singularity University and VP Marketing at NBCUniversal. Joanna developed a TV show partnership with NBC and Singularity University for “The Awesome Show,” a new broadcast TV series on tech and innovation produced by Mark Burnett with host Chris Hardwick and is an Executive Producer on the show. She is advising a number of immersive computing companies focused on holograms, haptic touch, AR Cloud and video engagement as well as developing VR/AR content. She is on the Coalition of the WXR Fund and was named “50 Women Can Change the World in Media and Entertainment.”

Alasdair Lennox, Executive Creative Director, FITCH: Alasdair joined FITCH 20 years ago as a junior environmental designer, and has moved his way through the ranks, evolving his spectrum of design skills, and collecting a few stamps in his passport. He directs creative output for FITCH studios in North America. He has extensive experience in both strategic and creative assignments for a wide variety of clients including Starbucks, Apple, Miele, McLaren, Target, Nespresso, adidas, M Local, BP, Tesco, and Enterprise. Alasdair has led FITCH to win its first Cannes Lions, London International Awards, World Retail Awards Store ‘Design of the Year’, and under his watch FITCH was voted a top design in 2017, for the 7th year in a row, by Design:Retail magazine readers. He has judged Cannes Design Lions, chaired the Interiors Jury at the Design Week Awards and judged at the Brandrepublic Digital Awards and D&AD New Blood. He regularly speaks at conferences, including The One Club’s Creative Week, Eurobest, EuroShop and the Retail Leaders Circle. Alasdair has written articles and contributed opinion to the BBC, Sky, Marketing Week, Contagious, Design Week, and Retail Week.

Brad Herman, Co-Founder, Chief Technology Officer, SPACES: As co-founder of SPACES, Brad builds on a career that spans visual effects, animation and virtual reality.  Most recently, Brad was the head of DreamLab at DreamWorks Animation, where he developed mobile, immersive and interactive experiences that combined the latest technology with storytelling expertise to create innovative new ways to interact with DreamWorks characters. Brad’s work included the creation of DreamWorks VR, the company’s first-ever virtual reality platform, and the technology behind DreamPlace, a holiday location-based attraction.  Brad was previously a crowds supervisor on such DreamWorks Animation films as Turbo, Kung Fu Panda 2 and Monsters vs. Aliens. He has also held various positions at visual-effects powerhouse Digital Domain. Brad and SPACES co-founder Shiraz Akmal are inventors of multiple patented VR technologies.

Jennifer Chavarria, Head of Studio, Kite and Lightning: Jennifer Chavarria is a passionate individual that thrives on exploring new frontiers in the entertainment industry. As a Producer, Executive Producer, and Head of Production she has managed projects from development through delivery in the film, commercial, music video, live event, interactive, and experiential markets. Jennifer started her career producing and marketing original Live Entertainment IPs that headlined casino showrooms in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. This led to a role as a live segment-consulting producer collaborating on multiple televised award shows for Cossette Productions. As a post and VFX producer, she has worked on projects seen on NBC, FOX, ABC, Amazon, and HBO. Jennifer has also led numerous post and VFX teams to deliver work that has been nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Visual Effects, received two VMA Award wins for Best Editing and Video of the Year, and a MVPA Award win for Best Editing. As Head of Production of Mind Over Eye Studios, a content creation division of TEN: The Enthusiast Network, she was an integral part of growing and expanding the studio which distributes content to the largest automotive and outdoor enthusiast audience in the world. This past year she has joined the award-winning virtual reality studio, Kite and Lightning, as Head of Studio to launch a tournament style multiplayer VR game called “Bebylon Battle Royale.”

Ryan Pulliam is the co-founder and CMO of Specular Theory, an award-winning immersive media and entertainment company based in Venice Beach, CA that creates premium virtual reality content and experiences using innovative storytelling and proprietary technology. Ryan brings extensive agency and client-side experience in digital marketing and brand strategy. As a next-generation thought leader on digital media strategy and a gatekeeper to large networks in the entertainment, technology and new media sectors, Pulliam is consistently creating opportunities for long-term growth and value from customers, markets and relationships. Pulliam is a published expert in the Seven Pearls of Financial Wisdom, which was named Top Business Book in 2012 by The Library Journal. She is a frequent guest speaker on a number of industry panels including Further Future, TEDx, Singularity University and CES. She is also a member of The Women’s CLUB of Silicon Valley, MaiTai Global and Summit Series. Specular Theory has won numerous awards for its virtual reality and 360 work, including the 2016 Streamy Award Winner for Best VR and 360 Experience for MatPat’s Game Lab in 360 series. The studio has also created the most talked about pieces at the 2015 and 2016 Sundance Film Festivals for their “Perspective VR” original series that ignited a global conversation around empathy and using VR for Good.

Mark Kapczynski has a successful track record as a serial entrepreneur, chief executive, and cross-industry expert.  He serves as an Executive Director of the UCLA Venture Capital Fund, helping to foster innovation connected to the university.  Programs include early stage investing, mentoring, and access to Intellectual Property from university patents. Mr. Kapczynski advises startup businesses as part of the LA Chamber of Commerce’s Bixel Exchange.  In this role, Mr. Kapczynski assists technology startups in Southern California to design their businesses, build out their teams and raise capital to fuel their growth. He also serves as a Venture Partner for Arrowroot Capital in Santa Monica, CA. At Arrowroot, Mr. Kapczynski focuses on investments in the SaaS market in need of growth capital to further develop their businesses.  The areas that Mr. Kapczynski addresses are Big Data & Analytics, Financial Services, and Consumer Internet. Mr. Kapczynski last served as VP of Corporate Development and Strategy for Experian's consumer businesses which include leading consumer brands: Experian, FreeCreditReport.com, and ProtectMyID. Through executing on over 8 M&A transactions, Mr. Kapczynski helped to facilitate Experian’s under-lying growth and profitability. Mr. Kapczynski graduated from UCLA film school and continues to be active in multiple industry associations that span media, mobile telecom, technology, and consumer internet.  He has 12 patents to his name and an additional 40 patents pending.