SPEAKERS

AWE USA 2026

Ziad Asghar
SVP & GM of XR
Qualcomm
Shelley Peterson
Founder | XR Industry Pioneer
Wizard Wells
David Chu
VP, Spatial Computing and XR
NVIDIA
Leslie Shannon
Vice Chair
Virtual World Society
Alvin Graylin
Author | Chairman
Our Next Reality | Virtual World Society
Cortney Harding
Friends with Holograms
Founder & CEO
Ori Inbar
Co-Director, Co-Founder
AWE & UnitedXR
Bilawal Sidhu
Creator & TED Technology Curator
TED Conferences
Sydney Hamilton
Sr. Project Management Specialist & Cost Account Manager
The Boeing Company
Norman Chan
Editor
TESTED
Jamie Barras
VP
Fidelity Center for Applied Technology
Zachary Quemore
Location Manager/Scout
Lucasfilm
Elizabeth Hyman
CEO
XR Association
Charlie Fink
Contributing Columnist, Host
Forbes, This Week in XR Podcast
Dr. Sandhya Santhosh
Senior Engineer - Virtualization Demonstration
Collins Aerospace - Applied Research and Technology
Andrew Lowe
Chief Advanced Visualization Engineer
Rolls-Royce
Loretta Chen
Founder & CEO
Smobler
Ted Schilowitz
Entertainment Industry Futurist
Disha Sardana
SARP Coding Mentor
NASA
Scott Stein
Editor At Large
CNET
Louis Rosenberg
CEO and Chief Scientist
Unanimous AI
Athena Demos
Co-founder & CEO / Executive Producer
Big Rock Creative & BurnerSphere
Kevin Williams
Founder
KWP
Shu Wei
Associate Research Scientist, XR Pediatrics
Yale School of Medicine
Gergely Kovacs
Head of XR CoE / XR Researcher / IM
Defense Innovation and Research Institute of Hungary
Lynn Welch
Principal Advisor
The Lion's View
James Cooper
Chief Technologist
Raytheon | An RTX Business
Susan Persky
Associate Investigator
National Institutes of Health
Andy O'Sullivan
Senior Innovation Consultant
Liberty Mutual
Erik Fuentes
VP: Innovation Lead
Chase
Nanea Reeves
CEO & Co-Founder
TRIPP
Alex Goldberg
Sr. Technical Product Manager
Blue Origin
Meghna Sonie
Product Designer & Prototyper
Lola's
Victor Aghulon
CEO
Targo
Emily Daviss
Co-Founder/Chief Clinical Officer
AVRwell Inc
Leon Pietschmann
Head of XR
THW
Briar Prestidge
CEO & Founder | Award-Winning Doco Producer
Prestidge Group
Chase Walker
Scientific Visualization Manager
Astec Industries
Kent Bye
Producer
Voices of VR Podcast
Jacquelyn Morie
Founder, Chief Scientist
All These Worlds, LLC
Arturo Perez
CEO
Kluge Interactive
Karen Alexander
Executive Director
XRconnectED / XR Women / Academy of Immersive Arts & Sciences
Mallesham Dasari
Faculty
Northeastern University
Tanvi Agrawal
MBA Student and Founder
UCLA and RealityCheck
Luke Wilson
CEO/Founder
ManageXR
Eve Weston
Experience Design, Strategy & Storytelling Consultant
Exelauno
Will Roberts
Founder and Lead XR Designer
Augmented Pictures
Tracy Mendolia
Associate Director Center for Teaching & Learning Excellence
Embry Riddle Aeronautical University
Nathan Miner
Research Fellow
Massachusetts General Hospital
Caitlin Krause
Founder
MindWise
Ben Erwin
Creator, The Poly Awards
Academy Immersive of Arts and Sciences
Leah Rubin-Cadrain
Creative Director
Tim Ventura
Managing Director
VOR Advisory
Ashley Crowder
CEO, Co-Founder
VNTANA
Cody Nowak
Founder
CUBE
Jason Kao
Associate Professor
University of Inland Norway
Julie Smithson
CEO
METAVRSE and XR Women
Yohan Baillot
CEO
ARCortex Inc.
Jaime Pichardo García
Chief Strategy Officer
Odders Lab
John Racine
Creative & Technical Director
Rogue Labs
Sophia Moshasha
Co-Founder
XR Women
Matthew Celia
Co-Founder
Light Sail VR
Karl Smink
CEO and Senior Researcher
VRTechs
Finn Staber
CEO
Chicken Waffle
Evo Heyning
CEO
Realitycraft
Richard Waltman
Software Engineer
OpenBCI, Inc.
Becky Lane
Director, Creative Technology Lab at Cornell University
Cornell University
Robert Hughes
Co-Founder
KOO Capital
Ryan Wang
Founding Partner
Outpost Capital
Rita Liao
Advisor / Strategy
Gregory Panos
Founder - Creator
Persona Foundation
Dreka Gates
FOUNDER
DrekAI
Trond Nilsen
Maker / Software Engineer
Reality Frame LLC
Avi Bar-Zeev
Founder, President
XR Guild
José Ferrer Costa
Medical Researcher and Innovation Projects Manager
Badalona Serveis Assistencials | Open University of Catalonia
Kermit Shao
Co-Founder & CEO
CubeVi
Liz Newton-Tanzer
Virtual Reality Software Engineer
Mighty Coconut
Steve Tagger
SVP of Commercial
nDreams Ltd
Lucas Martell
Director/Executive Producer/Owner
Mighty Coconut
Nicole Lazzaro
President
XEODesign Inc
Bob Fine
Executive Director
IVRHA
Stephanie Montgomery
Senior VP of Research and Best Practices
XR Association
Rick Beberman
Chief Executive Officer
Sira Medical
Laura Kusumoto
Consultant
IterationZero
Parisa "Risa" Vatanka
Co-Founder & CEO
Digital.Health
Maria Gorlatova
James N. & Elizabeth H. Barton Associate Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering
Duke University
Dr. Walter Greenleaf
Neuroscientist and Medical Technology Developer
Stanford University
Dr. Linda Ciavarelli
Co-Founder and CEO
HouseCall VR
Nathan Bowser
Founder / Podcast Host
Awesome Future
Justin Gunn
Senior Creative Producer
BurnerSphere
Phylis West-Johnson
Professor of Journalism & Mass Communication
San Jose State University
Tim Bajarin
President
Forbes and Fast Company
Kat King
Founder
CatheXis Films
Gregg Katano
CEO | Founder
Cosmos Collab
Tina Korani
Assistant Professor of Media Design
San Jose State University
Ihar Heneralau
CEO & Co-Founder
ICVR
Mahsa Nasri
PhD Candidate
Northeastern University
Sinan AlRubaye
Chief Experience Officer
ICVR
Alison Morano
Founder
Metaverse Chamber of Commerce
Neil Barbour
Industry analyst
S&P Global Market Intelligence
Wagner James Au
Author
New World Notes
Julian Reyes
Director
Virtual Worlds Museum™
Mingus New
Community Manager
Autodesk
Dylan Baker
Founder
Five Squared Interactive
Ines Said
Founder
Tanit XR
Doug Jacobson
Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer / Producer
Big Rock Creative & BurnerSphere
Alicia Yaffe
Co-Founder
Living Album Experience
Bobby Carlton
Head of Global Business Development for Digital Solutions
FS Studio
Georgii Klimenko
VR Developer and AWE Nite Organizer
NCXR
Margarita Johnson
Research and Writing Intern
Tanit XR
Angus Stevens
CEO
Start Beyond
Sean Mann
CEO & Co-Founder
RP1
Isabela Moise
Product Owner
Aequilibrium
Adrian Moise
Co-Founder & CEO
Aequilibrium
Ophelia Chen
VR Product Designer
Dreamscape Learn
Danny Tapia
CEO & Founder
Tap 4 Technologies
Lisa Ann Pinkerton
Founder and CEO
Technica Communications
Pascal Langdale
Director
Collective Intent
Kathleen Cohen
Tech Humanist, XR Strategist
The Collaboratorium
Benjamin Poynter
XR Specialist
Dreamtek
Chaz Moneypenny
Narrative Designer
New Peak Interactive
Zachary Handshoe
CEO
SpatialGen
Ian Harrison
Co-founder/ Head Innovation Dude
SNEAKAR.IO
Charlene Nichols
Founder/Creator
The Omniverse City
Emery Morrison
Founder/President
FR8QU8NCY
Malia Probst
Founding Partner
Scout House
Matthew Wren
Founder
VRAR Chicago
Marc Bringuier
President
Augmentalix
Mark Sage
Executive Director
The AREA
Natasha Gubernov
Creative Technologist
Thomas Suarez
CEO / CTO
Raven Resonance
Parth Arora
Human Interaction Engineer
Raven Resonance
Raven Zachary
COO
ARound
Jessica Young
Content & World Creator
Dominick Frederick
Game Developer
Edge Of Creation
Omar Abed
CTO
InvenSense, a TDK Group Company
Emilie Joly
CEO
Zoe Immersive
Juan Manuel Codó
Founder & Director
Studio Soup
Kelly Watt
Senior Management Consultant Digital Transformation / Digital Twins
Digital Twin Consulting
Sam Cole
CEO & Founder
FitXR
Randolph Warnaar
CEO
Fabstation
Marbenn Cayetano
IT Business Systems Analyst Sr
City of Austin
Alice Siu
Associate Director, Deliberate Democracy Lab
Stanford University
Gavin Newton-Tanzer
AWE Asia
President
Miguel Carrazza Morales
Product Manager
Abbott Laboratories
Radu Reit
CEO
Display Training Center
Erica Kleinman
Assistant Research Professor
Northeastern University
Dan Cui
Owner
Freelance
Karl Guttag
President
KGOnTech LLC (kguttag.com)
Leanne Chukoskie
Associate Professor
Northeastern University
Jeff Rayner
CEO
MXTReality
Victor Erukhimov
Co-Founder and CEO
Itseez3D
Steve Talkowski
Creative Director
Sketchbot Studios
Dace Campbell
Product Manager Business Manager of XR & Metaverse
Cintoo
Julian Gomez
Director
Computer Graphics History Institute
Benny Lee
Senior Manager of Technology & Strategic Partnerships
The Coca-Cola Company
Alley Till
Technician
Bates Technical College
Chris Brown
VP of Public Policy
XR Association
Devin Marble
Enterprise Growth Lead
ArborXR
Thomas Winkler
Product Leader
Quest Global
Tinku Jose
Technology Leader
Quest Global
Mike Goslin
CEO
New Peak Interactive
Kristin Rozum
DC Black Box
Warner Bros. Studios
Elizabeth Rood
Senior Fellow
The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop
Michelle Aebersold
Clinical Professor
University of Michigan School of Nursing
Dion Johnson
CEO
Indie Me Inc.
Laksh Vadbheru
Student Founder
Builder
Christopher Stapleton
Experience Architect and Producer
SIMIOSYS, LLC
Dinesh Punni
Founder and CEO
immersive insiders
Ashray Pai
XR Developer || XR Educator
immersive insiders
Celeste Lear
Founder, Business Development Specialist & Creator
Boutique XR
Ray Mosco
Founder
General Immersive
Rebecca Evans
XR Director
Dimension Adventures
Alissa Brodsky
Production Director
Dark Arts Software
Dana Ware
Founder and CEO
Hidden Realities
Brent Bushnell
Co-founder
DreamPark
Tommy Palm
CEO
Resolution Games
Guy Wagner
Chief Scientist, President and Director
Wearable Devices LTD
David Wyatt
Brand Builder, Communications Executive
Brett Renfer
Senior Project Manager, Emerging Technology
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Steven Wolpe
AR Designer, Developer, Tech Producer
Pretty Big Monster
Krista Wharton
AI/ML Senior Product Manager
Amazon
Harshit Karkani
Sr Manager, Product Management
Amazon
Steven Christian
Medical Researcher & XR Creator
Iltopia
Patrick Thomas, MD
Medical Director of Innovation
Children's Nebraska
Robin White Owen
President & Co-Founder
MediaCombo
Albert Skip Rizzo
Director, Medical Virtual Reality
University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies
Rolando Masís-Obando
Neuroscientist + YouTuber
Johns Hopkins University
Tom Furness
Founder
Virtual World Society - Light School
Paul Mezier
Co-founder & COO
Acute Immersive
Maura Axelrod
Editor-in-Chief
Primary
Kelly Breaks
Owner
Blue Frog Studios
Kiira Benzing
CEO
Double Eye Studio
Richard Broadbridge
CEO
4Dviews
Stephanie Riggs
Co-Founder / CXO
NiaXP
Chris Pfaff
Owner
Chris Pfaff Tech Media LLC
Daniel Zeitman
Spatial Explorer
Spatial Explorer Labs
Devin Baldwin
WebXR Developer | Educator
The Devinci Code
Alexey Medvedev
AR Tech lead
Meta
Henrik Edstrom
Graphics systems architect
Independent
Nick Porcino
Principal Engineer
Pixar
Stephen Butchko
Co-Founder
Ferryman Collective
Omari Hitson
Lead Product Designer
JP Morgan Chase & Co.
Wadooah Wali
Co-Founder, CSO & Executive Producer
New Canvas
Deirdre V. Lyons
Co-Founder
Ferryman Collective
Michael Gold
Managing Partner
Depth Map Ventures
Kate Bielotserkovksa
XR Prototyper, UX & Game Designer
Paradiddle
Lacey Nein
Emerging Technology Lab Coordinator
San Jose State University
Jeffrey Berthiaume
Sr. Innovator
Southwest Airlines
Justin Leger
Lead Technology Innovator
Southwest Airlines
Dean Hu
Sr. Process Engineer
General Motors
Michael Williams
Sr. Process Engineer Virtual Engineering and Data Management
General Motors
Jason Kohnert
Engineering Supervisor
General Motors
Ralph Jodice
General Manager North America, Head of Partnerships & Publicity
XREAL
Kelly Ingham
VP, AR Devices Partnerships
Meta
John Iaia
Head of Strategic Alliances - XR & AI
Lenovo
Dr. Stefanie Holden
Researcher
UC San Diego
Marlaina Love
Founder & CEO
The Diamond Resilience
Jenni Ogden
CEO
Eye Q Productions
Laura Brown
Founder / Head of Research & Design
Mindset Learning Design
David Snopek
XR Software Engineer
W4 Games
JP Minetos
Investor
Hartmann Capital
Aaron Daly
Virtual Production Supervisor
Cal State University Northridge
Dax Leepart
Director - New Client Sales
PICO
David Oh
Global Developer Advocacy
PICO
Julia Uhr
Engineer
EPRI
Dirk Figge
EVP
Photon Industries
Spencer Cook
CEO
Continuum VR Studios | VoicePatrol
Priyanka Shekar
AI Wearables Product Manager
HP
Andrew Martin
Software Engineer / Data Analyst
Utah State University - Innovation Lab (ILab)
Ludovic Attiogbe
Computer System Analyst
Utah State University - Innovation Lab (ILab)
Tipatat Chennavasin
Co-Founder & General Partner
The Venture Reality Fund
Omead Sinai
Consulting Manager
Rock Paper Reality
Haipeng (Mark) Zhang
President
American Medical Extended Reality Association
Christine Ladd
Industry Strategy & BD
Samsung
Joudi Assaf
Director of Marketing & Events
XRA