Karen Alexander

Founder and CEO, XR Women

Since entering the XR technology field in 2016 after a career in higher education, Karen Alexander, PhD, has worked on a diverse range of initiatives, including producing 360-degree videos, guiding youth in XR creation, and advising companies and academic institutions on XR adoption and implementation. Dr. Alexander has been instrumental in shaping business strategies and compliance frameworks for XR startups, ensuring adherence to standards such as SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certification, and building innovative immersive learning experiences for enterprise.

A passionate community advocate, Dr. Alexander co-founded XR Women in November 2020. Designed to catalyze success and participation in the industry, XR Women has expanded under her leadership to 1,100 members across 60 countries and has produced nearly 200 events in virtual worlds spotlighting women in XR.

She is executive director and a co-founding board member of the Academy of Immersive Arts and Sciences, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to educate XR professionals and the general public about the technology and best practices, Inspire creation and innovation in the field, and recognize achievements and accomplishments in immersive media.

Jeremy Bailenson

Professor and Director, Stanford University

Jeremy Bailenson is founding director of Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, Thomas More Storke Professor in the Department of Communication, professor (by courtesy) of education, professor (by courtesy) of the Symbolic Systems program, and a senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment. He has served as director of graduate studies in the Department of Communication for over a decade. He earned a B.A. from the University of Michigan in 1994 and a PhD in cognitive psychology from Northwestern University in 1999. He spent four years at the University of California, Santa Barbara, as a post-doctoral fellow and then an assistant research professor.

Bailenson studies the psychology of virtual and augmented reality, in particular how virtual experiences lead to changes in perceptions of self and others. His lab builds and studies systems that allow people to meet in virtual space and explores changes in the nature of social interaction. His most recent research focuses on how virtual experiences can transform education, environmental conservation, empathy, and health. He is the recipient of the Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching at Stanford. In 2020, IEEE recognized his work with the Virtual/Augmented Reality Technical Achievement Award.

Phil Benavides

Founder and CEO, Remembrance

Starting a business from scratch and nurturing it to a $10 million annual revenue was a journey filled with highs and profound lows. During a period of intense growth, he faced the heartbreaking loss of three beloved family members. These losses brought him face to face with the often dispassionate nature of the death care profession, leaving a lasting impression on him during a time of personal grief.

Inspired by his cousin who was only 26 years old when he passed, Benavides was moved to create a more meaningful and beautiful way to remember loved ones. This led to the development of an augmented reality service that allows families to experience beautiful, virtual memorials from anywhere—not just graveside. This platform transforms how we connect with and remember our loved ones, making each interaction a personal and beautiful experience.

Benavides discovered his grand purpose through this work, treating it with the profound respect it deserves. He became a certified funeral celebrant and gained expertise in grief support and end-of-life care. Working closely with grief psychologists and death care professionals for over 18 months, Remembrance crafted a service that respects the emotional journey of grief, guided by the compassionate “continuing bonds” theory.

Nathan Bowser

Founder, Awesome Future

Nathan C Bowser (they/them) is a leader and entrepreneur at the forefront of emerging spatial technologies. As the founder and CEO of Awesome Future, they are dedicated to helping people with big ideas succeed faster by connecting them with their customers and go-to-market research. Their expertise spans product strategy, experiential marketing, and B2B applications of augmented and virtual reality, which they've taught widely since 2015.

Host of the business podcast The Glow Up, Nathan explores resilience and value-building with industry innovators. Their customer-first philosophy and commitment to integrating creatives early in tech development have positioned them as a respected voice in the innovation ecosystem.

Through Awesome Future and other platforms, Bowser continues to shape the future of technology and business, helping transformative ideas find their moment to shine in an ever-evolving digital landscape.

Rachel Bracker

Co-Founder, Hungry Mantis

Rachel Bracker is passionate about using immersive storytelling to educate and inspire. She began her career as a traditional video producer and editor, a role that sparked her curiosity about innovative storytelling techniques and ultimately led her to explore the world of virtual reality. At her company Hungry Mantis, she collaborates with clients to create VR training videos, virtual tours, educational 360 documentaries, short films, and even dome experiences for planetariums. Her work has been praised for its ability to transport viewers into new environments, from the living room of the world’s oldest drag queen to the surface of Mars!

Bracker holds a master’s degree in multimedia journalism from the University of Oregon, where she first encountered VR storytelling. Since then, the wow factor of the technology hasn’t worn off. She believes everyone on Earth should watch Space Explorers and play Walkabout Mini Golf with their friends (at least once!).

When she’s not crafting VR experiences, Bracker enjoys teaching workshops and attending film festivals to connect with other storytellers and discover new creative inspirations.

Forrest Brennan

Co-Founder, Hungry Mantis

Forrest Brennan is an experienced director of photography and an expert in all areas of post-production, including stitching, editing, VFX, motion graphics, 3D modeling, rotoscoping, app development, and audio mixing. He's been working with 360-degree video since 2015 and is an avid scuba diver, licensed drone pilot, and bicyclist.

Kent Bye

Founder, Voices of VR Podcast

Since May 2014, Kent Bye has published 1,500 Voices of VR podcast interviews featuring the pioneering artists, storytellers, and technologists driving the resurgence of virtual and augmented reality. He's an oral historian, experiential journalist, and aspiring philosopher who is helping to define the patterns of immersive storytelling, experiential design, ethical frameworks, and the ultimate potential of XR.

Danny Carson

Senior Director, Head of Product and User Research, Magic Leap

Danny Carson is a product research and development leader in technology (augmented and virtual reality) and the athletic footwear and apparel industries. He is currently a senior director at Magic Leap, where he leads a highly interdisciplinary, globally dispersed team of engineers, researchers and designers, working to deliver cutting-edge AR solutions for a global audience.

Previously at Nike, he stepped into roles at the Nike Sport Research Lab and in-line product development, where he harnessed insights from working with elite athletes to drive product innovation. His journey later involved developing footwear for diverse categories, primarily running.

Benjamin Crosier

Quantitative User Researcher, UX, Meta

Benjamin Crosier is a quantitative user researcher at Meta’s Reality Labs, where he focuses on augmented, virtual, and mixed reality research across the metaverse and wearables teams. His research is centered on product growth and social dynamics.

Crosier received his PhD at the University of Florida in social psychology and has worked in academia and industry, from Dartmouth to IDEO, Intuit, and Instagram. He resides in Sisters, Oregon, with his wife Adrienne and dog Tally.

Gary Grossman

EVP, Global Lead of Edelman AI Center of Excellence, Edelman

Gary Grossman is a senior PR strategist and deep tech specialist who identifies unique value propositions, develops compelling stories, and builds organizational consensus and effective go-to-market approaches for technology companies of all sizes. He was named by PRWeek to its Dashboard 25 for 2024, a list of the most influential people in PR.

Thomas Hayden

Co-Founder, 360 Labs

Thomas Hayden is a co-founder of 360 Labs, serving as director on location and creative director in the studio. With nearly 20 years of experience in immersive media production, Hayden has helped pioneer these new media through his work on groundbreaking projects for major brands and organizations.Hayden first learned to tell a story in the old way, around a campfire, as an expedition river guide, and discovered his path in immersive technology in Alaska in 2005, the same year he first rowed a raft through the Grand Canyon. Soon after, he was among the first producers deployed to capture 360° images for Google Street View and directed the first 360° video narrative on the internet with National Geographic about humpback whales.

The last 10 years in partnership with Matt Rowell as 360 Labs have been a decade of truly great adventures, capturing immersive experiences for clients and original productions while exploring the new art of immersive storytelling as it evolves. They believe that immersive media can ring true with its audience in a way that no other media type can, and our world needs more of that.

Alex Hessler

CEO, Invisible Thread

Alex Hessler is a visionary leader and multidisciplinary creative with a passion for storytelling, innovation, and technical artistry. As the founder and CEO of Invisible Thread, Hessler combines creative experimentation and technical expertise to push boundaries across industries. With a career spanning feature films, special venue and commercial productions, and cutting-edge mixed reality and immersive design, he has made award-winning contributions to some of the most iconic projects in modern media.From shaping the visual effects of Harry Potter and Avatar to crafting characters and environments for Pixar, Alex’s work exemplifies the synergy of art and technology. Beyond cinema, Hessler has led groundbreaking immersive experiences for clients such as Meta, Intel, and Microsoft.

Janet Johnson

Founder and CEO, AI Governance Group

Janet Johnson is a business executive specializing in technological transformations and AI governance. As founder of the AI Governance Group and adjunct professor at Portland State University, she combines practical leadership with academic insights to guide responsible technology adoption.

Her experience as former chief marketing officer and chief governance officer of Fortune 1000 companies spans education technology, financial services, real estate, and technology sectors. During the early days of social media, she helped organizations develop frameworks for responsible engagement, turning technological challenges into strategic advantages.

Johnson’s expertise in strategic marketing, customer relationship management, and AI ethics enables organizations to achieve growth while maintaining strong governance standards. She actively collaborates with industry leaders, policymakers, and academic institutions to advocate for ethical AI practices and responsible technology implementation.

Spencer Lindsay

CEO, Etribe

Spencer Lindsay brings over 35 years of experience in real-time 3D and interactive media to the educational sector. Having served as a technical art director for renowned organizations such as Atari Games, Rockstar San Diego, and Magic Leap, Lindsay has honed expertise in cutting-edge technologies and creative development. He is the founder of Etribe, an interactive studio based in Portland, Oregon, that specializes in creating immersive exhibits and educational experiences for zoos, museums, and aquariums.

Lindsay’s work emphasizes the fusion of art, technology, and education, making complex concepts engaging and accessible to diverse audiences. His recent projects include developing a virtual reality application for robotics training and projection mapping installations for large-scale public events.Passionate about mentoring and innovation, Lindsay contributes his unique perspective to educational initiatives, helping shape curricula and programs that inspire future generations of creators and technologists.

Jessica Outlaw

3D, Immersive and AI Experiential Researcher, Adobe

Jessica Outlaw is a behavioral scientist and experience researcher. She studies 3D and immersive technologies because of their potential to open up new ways of understanding data, collaborating across distances, and enhancing creativity. At Adobe, her research influenced the newly launched beta app Substance 3D Viewer, which unlocks 3D capabilities for Adobe Creative Cloud usersPrior to joining Adobe, she was the founder of The Extended Mind and consulted with a range of companies including Nike, Meta, and Mozilla. She is the author of two books: one on cognitive biases in product development and another on decision-making. In her free time, she can be found singing around campfires.

Jonathon Richter

Founder and CEO, Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN); Faculty Fellow, Vice Provost Office of Education, Educational Initiatives, and Innovation, University of Montana

Dr. Jonathon Richter is faculty fellow in the Vice Provost Office of Education, Educational Initiatives, and Innovation at the University of Montana. In this role, he leads strategic initiatives to integrate extended reality (XR) and artificial intelligence into the university’s educational landscape. His work focuses on leveraging emerging technologies to foster innovation and inclusivity, with an emphasis on building institutional capacity for transformative learning experiences.

Currently, Richter is collaborating on a virtual reality (VR) project with Blackfeet ECO Knowledge, blending immersive technologies with Indigenous wisdom to advance cultural preservation and environmental understanding.

Richter’s vision centers on creating immersive learning environments that inspire curiosity, amplify diverse perspectives, and address global challenges, ensuring education remains a dynamic force for innovation and equity. As CEO of the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN), he also facilitates global collaboration among researchers, educators, and technologists dedicated to harnessing immersive environments for social good. With expertise in the learning sciences and design of human-computer interactions, Richter’s interdisciplinary approach bridges fields such as game design, pedagogy, and environmental sciences. His work often explores the intersection of education, technology, and equity, exemplified by his leadership in initiatives like the Montana Futures Forum, which examines the impact of technological innovation on education and society.

Alejandro Rodriguez

Lead Immersive Technical Designer, Nike

Alejandro Rodriguez (he/him) is a queer Latino technical artist with eight years of experience across multiple industries like games, automotive, and fashion. Beginning his career in mobile and AAA game development, Rodriguez honed expertise in pipeline and process development, which he later applied to the automotive industry. In the automotive industry he developed simulation software to advance the safety of autonomous vehicles for clients like Ford, Honda, and Ferrari. Currently, Rodriguez serves as a lead immersive technical designer at Nike, where he leverages his storytelling acumen and digital content creation skills to craft engaging experiences and enhance internal processes.

Enrique Sánchez-Rivera

CEO and Co-Founder, Augmented Island Studios

Enrique Sánchez-Rivera serves as the founder and CEO of Augmented Island Studios, a comprehensive spatial computing (augmented and virtual reality) studio headquartered in Portland, Oregon, with development offices located in Cali, Colombia.

Graduating from the William & Mary (W&M) full-time MBA program in 2007, he was a pivotal founding member of the W&M Mason School of Business Alumni of Color Network.

A serial entrepreneur, Sánchez-Rivera has successfully established three companies across diverse industries: Augmented Island Studios (technology), Love Preferred Coffee Co. (sustainable premium Colombian coffee), and La Isla Fashion Group (manufacturing). Originally hailing from Cali, Colombia, Sánchez-Rivera maintains a profound connection to Williamsburg, Virginia, and remains actively engaged with William & Mary.

Exemplifying a role model for W&M students, he showcases how one can leverage their W&M experience to foster innovation, establish valuable networks, and cultivate professional skills necessary for making a meaningful impact in the world. Sánchez-Rivera holds a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Connecticut and is a graduate of the Yale School of Management's Executive Leadership Program (YGELP).

Tawny Schlieski

Founder and CEO, Shovels and Whiskey and Oregon Story Board

Tawny Schlieski is a research scientist and a producer with more than 15 years of experience designing and creating innovative digital solutions with both academic and corporate partners. She spent 17 years at Intel, including her most recent role as director of research for client computing. She is founder and president of Oregon Story Board, a nonprofit dedicated to building diversity and inclusion in the digital economy, and she runs Shovels and Whiskey, a digital prototyping studio in Hillsboro, Oregon.

Her work centers on leveraging emergent technologies to create an intentionally inclusive digital community.  Her partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company on The Tempest delivered record-breaking audiences and two Innovation Lions at Cannes.  Her current work leverages interactive digital experiences to teach students critical thinking and research skills. She is a graduate of Lewis and Clark College (BA) and Duke University (MA).

Nadia Taméz

Founder and CEO, Synergy Studio

Synergy Studio is a young creative and digital company based in Guadalajara, Mexico, founded in 2018 and specializing in the design of digital solutions with extended reality (XR), augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and interactive technologies for the metaverse and NFTs. The studio is founded and led by 25-year-old Nadia Taméz, who coursed her professional studies in Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and coursed Urban Art at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon. She specialized in global art dynamics at Sotheby’s and CENTRO, and in creative direction at Miami Ad School. In 2021, Taméz was named by Coolhuntermx as one of the 29 most influential creatives under 30 in Mexico.

Taméz has designed public interactive technological exhibitions for companies and organizations such as the French group Moët Hennessy (LVMH), Nike, Meta, Adobe, Logitech, HBO, Coachella, Mercedes-Benz, Adidas, Maybelline, Sprite, Too Faced, Hyundai, WNBA, Cirque du Soleil, L’Oréal, MLB, Playboy, Heineken, Tecate, and more. Her work has been published in media outlets such as Forbes, Expansión, The Cool Hunter, Informador, Mural, Milenio, and Players, among others.

Raven Zachary

COO, ARound

Raven Zachary is the chief operating officer at ARound, overseeing product delivery and operations. ARound specializes in augmented reality experiences for live events, particularly in professional sports. He joined ARound through Stagwell’s acquisition of Object Theory, an award-winning AR application developer and early Microsoft HoloLens partner.

Zachary is the founder of VisionDevCamp, a not-for-profit event dedicated to building applications for Apple Vision Pro and visionOS. He also serves as the track chair for the Vision Workshop at Augmented World Expo (AWE). Zachary also co-founded the Portland Virtual Meetup and founded the Portland HoloLens Meetup.

Previously, Zachary spent eight years in mobile app development. He founded iPhoneDevCamp and directed the official Obama ’08 iPhone app. As the co-founder of Small Society, he developed apps for brands such as Starbucks, Zipcar, and Amazon. Small Society was acquired in 2012 by Walmart, where Zachary led mobile product management and launched several mobile apps and websites.

Donna Davis

Associate Professor; Director, Immersive Media Communication Master’s Program and Oregon Reality (OR) Lab

Donna Davis is an expert in virtual reality (VR), digital embodiment, tech equity and inclusion, and digital social capital. She is an associate professor and director of the SOJC's Oregon Reality Lab and the Immersive Media Communication Master’s program. She also served as director of the SOJC's Strategic Communication Master’s program for 10 years.

Donna's ethnographic research focuses on the potential uses of social virtual worlds, gamification, and other emerging immersive media, with a special focus on marginalized and vulnerable communities. Her research on embodied experience and identity among people with disabilities in virtual reality was funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation. She has also extensively studied people with Parkinson’s disease who find and build support in the virtual world. Her research continues to explore the impacts of these experiences on both the promise and peril of technosolutionism, recognizing both the isolating and connecting powers of these emerging immersive environments.

Jakki Bailey

Assistant Professor

Dr. Jakki Bailey specializes in immersive media and interactive technology across different ages, as it relates to cognition, behavior, and social interactions. Her research currently examines the impact of immersive virtual reality (VR) on children’s cognitive skills and social responses as well as using social VR to foster social connections during remote online learning. Dr. Bailey completed her Ph.D. in communication at Stanford University. In addition to her academic research, teaching, and service, Bailey has advised children’s media company executives and governmental groups on the psychological, social, and ethical implications of VR in the lives of young people.

Nikki Dunsire

Instructor; Manager, Oregon Reality Lab

Nikki Dunsire is a seasoned production artist and educator with over two decades of industry experience, complemented with 17 years of teaching experience. She currently holds the positions of career faculty member and Manager of the Oregon Reality Lab at the University of Oregon. Dunsire's professional background encompasses 3D production, immersive media, VFX, motion graphics, and game art.She holds a bachelor of arts in digital media studies with a minor in art and design from the University of Denver, a bachelor of science in media arts and animation from The Art Institute of Portland, and a master of science in graphics and animation with a specialization in 3D technical direction and development from DePaul University in Chicago.

Her career journey began as a web developer and production coordinator, ultimately leading to the role of 3D technical director at Animation Dynamics Inc. (ADi). During this phase of her career, she collaborated with technology firms, game and application developers, independent filmmakers, and Fortune 500 companies.

Dunsire's dedication to education has yielded successful alumni who have gone on to work for companies such as Disney, Blizzard Entertainment, SuperGenius Studio, Sony Entertainment, Bungie, EA Games, 343 Industries, Liquid Development, Hinge, LAIKA Studios, and more.

Dunsire is a Pioneer SIGGRAPH member and a member and founder of the Portland, Oregon, chapter of Women in Animation.

Maxwell Foxman

Assistant Professor of Media Studies and Game Studies; Director, Game Studies Minor; Co-Director, Esports and Games Research Lab

Maxwell Foxman is an assistant professor of media studies and game studies at the UO School of Journalism and Communication. Foxman's research focuses on how games impact non-game industries and practices, including journalism, immersive media, and esports. Foxman co-authored Mainstreaming and Game Journalism (MIT Press) in 2023 with David B. Nieborg. His research can be found in New Media & Society, Social Media + Society, and Digital Journalism, among other outlets.

Regina Lawrence

Associate Dean, SOJC Portland; Research Director, Agora Journalism Center

Regina Lawrence is associate dean of the School of Journalism and Communication in Portland and research director for the Agora Journalism Center. She is a nationally recognized authority on political communication, civic engagement, gender and politics, and the role of media in public discourse about politics and policy. Her two latest books are Hillary Clinton’s Race for the White House: Gender Politics and the Media on the Campaign Trail and When the Press Fails: Political Power and the News Media from Iraq to Katrina. She is the winner of the Doris A. Graber Outstanding Book Award from the Political Communication section of the American Political Science Association.

From 2011 to 2015, Lawrence directed the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life at the University of Texas-Austin. She has served as chair of the political communication section of the American Political Science Association and as a research fellow at the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She is currently the editor of the journal Political Communication.

Juan-Carlos Molleda

Edwin L. Artzt Dean and Professor

Juan-Carlos Molleda is a tenured professor and the Edwin L. Artzt Dean of the SOJC. He is also a U.S. Fulbright Senior Specialist. He has accumulated 22 years of experience teaching and researching public relations and communication management at the University of Florida (2000–2016), University of South Carolina (1997–2000), and Radford University (1995–1997).

Juan-Carlos received his bachelor of science in social communication (1990) from Universidad del Zulia in Venezuela, a master of science in corporate and professional communications (1997) from Radford University in Virginia, and a doctor of philosophy degree in journalism and mass communications with an emphasis on international public relations and international business (2000) from the University of South Carolina. Since his doctoral studies in South Carolina, Molleda has become a leading teacher and scholar in global corporate public relations management. In 2010, he was awarded the University of South Carolina’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications Outstanding Young Alumni Award.

In addition to his outreach to the professional community, Juan-Carlos is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Institute for Public Relations and a founding member of its Commission on Global Public Relations Research, the Latin American liaison of the Public Relations Society of America’s Certification in Education for Public Relations, a member of The LAGRANT Foundation Board of Directors, and a Public Relations Committee member for the HIV Alliance in Eugene, Oregon.

Lisa Peyton

Immersive Media Strategist; Strategic Communication Instructor

Diving into digital and immersive communications during its nascent stage, Lisa Peyton is today among the leaders in the field, particularly in the Pacific Northwest. Based in Eugene, Oregon, she serves as an immersive and strategic communications instructor at the UO School of Journalism and Communication.

Peyton is equal parts bleeding-edge technologist, passionate educator, and data-driven strategist. She strongly believes in the power of technology to educate, entertain, and connect people around the world. She leverages the principles of psychology, immersive storytelling, and digital channel expertise to help organizations understand, reach, and emotionally connect with their audiences.

Her hands-on experience includes implementing successful immersive and digital strategies for Intel, Microsoft, the Smithsonian Institution, Hewlett Packard, and Alaska Airlines. The quality and breadth of her work has been recognized with several industry awards.

As a pioneer in the social media industry, she has been guided by the industry’s evolution and had a hand in directing it, capitalizing on the power of social media to increase her clients’ online visibility and overall marketing efforts. She has honed her skills to specialize in comprehensive digital strategies, to include social media strategy and development, brand storytelling, audience engagement, and education.  She regularly contributes to outlets such as VentureBeat, MarTech.org, and Social Media Examiner and has presented at international industry events such as the Cannes Lions, Augmented World Expo, and Immersive Education Summit. 

Danny Pimentel

Co-Director, Oregon Reality Lab; Assistant professor of Immersive Media Psychology

Danny Pimentel is an assistant professor of immersive media psychology, a fellow at Yale’s Program on Climate Change Communication, and co-director of the Oregon Reality Lab at the UO School of Journalism and Communication.

As a developer and researcher, Pimentel creates and tests the pro-environmental and prosocial implications of immersive storytelling through augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR). His projects have been supported by Meta, Snapchat, Unity 3D, Google ARCore, and National Geographic, among others. His research and XR projects have been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Nature Scientific Reports, New Media and Society, and Journal for Nature Conservation, among others.