Monday, January 6th, 2020

10:15 – 11:15 AM

Session I, C-Space at CES

Aria Resort & Casino, Level 3, Juniper 4

AR/VR/XR Everywhere: Live Events, Arcades and Theme Parks

VR/AR/XR is the celebrated platform for the most sophisticated advertisers, entertainment and immersive marketing strategists. It’s about AR/XR in Times Square to larger than life immersive experiences in Theme Parks and Arcades. XR is the essential Hollywood tent-pole brand extension.

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

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

Jennifer Chavarria, Head of Studio, Kite and Lightning

Jason Waskey, Principal Creative Director, Microsoft

Nikki Scoggins, Vice President of Marketing, Awesomeness (Viacom)

Mark Kapczynski, President, Storymill, Moderator

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.”

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.”

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.

Nikki Scoggins is the VP of Marketing at Awesomeness (Viacom), overseeing all creative marketing and PR initiatives for their original TV series and films distributed across Hulu, Netflix, Youtube Originals and more around the world. Prior to Awesomeness, Nikki designed global PR and social media strategies as well as digital marketing campaigns and experiential marketing events for some of the most authentic youth-focused product and entertainment companies out there including Burton Snowboards (The Program), Vans, Entertainment One, and Taco Bell. Nikki is recognized for building, from the ground up, one of the largest social media audiences of any brand in the world during her tenure at Vans, amassing tens of millions of fans and followers.

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.