Kristin Glushon brings 20 years of experience in executive production, business development, marketing, and strategy to her role as Executive Producer at Nexus Studios, a multi-BAFTA and Emmy-winning, Oscar and Grammy-nominated global studio specializing in film and experience design. Nexus operates at the intersection of entertainment, branded content, and technology, crafting groundbreaking stories and experiences through animation, live-action, XR, spatial computing, and more. With studios in London, Los Angeles, and Sydney, Nexus partners with leading tech companies, brands, and IPs to shape culture and navigate the future of entertainment. With a passion for innovation and a knack for creating experiences that her kids think are cool, Kristin is excited to leverage her extensive background to drive growth at Nexus Studios. Prior to Nexus, Kristin was VP of Partnerships and Marketing for the LA-based studio Trigger XR. In this role, she led the business development, strategic partnerships, and marketing departments. She partnered with premier global brands including Disney, LEGO, Molson Coors, Diageo, Nike, Sony, and Starbucks. Kristin also spearheaded live events, strategic marketing, and thought leadership initiatives, leading to award recognition from the Clios, Shortys, Auggies, and Webbys, as well as exclusive early development partnerships with industry giants including Unity, Apple, Niantic, Qualcomm, Roblox, Snap, Meta, Adobe, Google, and NVIDIA, among others. Kristin also previously served as EVP of Client Development at Branded Entertainment Network (BEN) and held key sales and client services roles at Orion, an IPG media agency, and at Thomson Reuters. An advocate for diversity and women’s leadership, Kristin serves on the Board of Directors for Ayana Foundation and Women's Leadership Council, and previously for ThinkLA's Diversity and Inclusion Group, IPG's Women's Leadership Network, and as the Founder and Executive Sponsor for BEN Includes. She has spoken at major industry events including SXSW, AWE, The Wrap, LA Adweek, and has been featured in publications by IAB, Adweek, and Brand Innovators Women in Marketing. Kristin earned her MBA from Pepperdine University and graduated with honors from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She resides in Los Angeles with her husband, their two baseball-obsessed kids, and their goldendoodle, Freddy, named after their favorite horror film character, Freddy Fazbear.



Elizabeth Kiehner is Chief Growth Officer at Nortal, a multinational digital transformation company leading sales and business development, marketing, and strategic growth through M&A. She has 8 years of experience as an executive in the global technology services space with a 25 year career history as an entrepreneur, keynote speaker and award-winning author. Before joining Nortal, Kiehner was a Vice President of Enterprise Transformation at Capgemini Invent. During the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic, she set up the Digital Transformation Office of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Before that, she spent over 5 years at IBM, establishing a global Experience Design Center of Excellence within IBM Services as well as a sales team focused on IBM’s largest global accounts.

Jeff Blackman, Managing Director, Barbarian:  Jeff Blackman currently serves as managing director at Barbarian. Prior to that Jeff led the consulting division of d2.ai, an AI product innovation company. Jeff also led the customer experience, design and innovation group during his time as chief experience officer at Havas. Jeff is on a mission to help brands take advantage of the possibilities as we move into a new era of innovation at the intersection of creative, technology, data and customer experience. Jeff views AI as more than a tool for optimization — he views it as a force that’s transforming and redefining what brand experience means. He sees a future where the very nature of how customers interact with brands is more expressive, adaptive, and personalized. Jeff led one of the first brand transformations where AI was embedded into the brand system itself for ADP and led a strategic partnership with IBM Watson to explore how their products can power creative. He has worked on American Express, Samsung, ADP, IBM, Citi Bank, TD Ameritrade, Bank of America, UPS, MasterCard, Keurig, GE, BMW, Molson Coors, Red Bull, Paramount , A+E Networks, Under Armour, Disney, Wells Fargo, BlackRock, InterContinental Hotels Group, Barclays, Universal Studios, Merck, iHeartMedia and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Michael Anthony, Co-founder and Interactive Director, Active Theory: Michael is a co-founder of Active Theory, specializing in creating immersive digital experiences that push the boundaries of WebGL, AI, and AR/VR technologies. With a deep technical foundation and a strong creative vision, he bridges concepting with execution, delivering seamless and engaging interactive projects.

Johannes Saam, Futurist/Creative Technologist, Framestore/atara.xyz: Senior Creative Technologist / Futurist Johannes Saam took an early interest in 3D, teaching himself critical skills at a young age. He started self-taught, then studied at ScanlineVFX in Munich, and after earning a Master's in Computer Animation from Bournemouth University, he worked in Visual Effects for 15 years. He has worked on feature films, including Mad Max 4, Thor, Captain America, and Prometheus. Since joining Framestore, Johannes has worked on many projects in emerging technology for high-profile partners, including Apple, Google, Time Inc, BMW, and Facebook. He holds a Technical Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his many achievements and honors for developing, prototyping, and promoting technologies and workflows for deep compositing. As well as an Emmy Award for his contributions to the Free Solo 360 project, he was part of the Platinum Lion-winning team of the 'Long live the Prince' campaign in Cannes. Beyond his numerous awards, Johannes has spoken at various events, most recently SXSW, GDC, Siggraph, and NFT NYC. He is currently researching creative ways to tell stories in all transmedia contexts. He profoundly understands machine learning technologies and focuses on discovering new avenues to excite audiences globally. Johannes is also known under the artist pseudonym 'ATARA'; His first NFT collection used generative art rooted in the blockchain. It sold out, and he is continuously expanding his presence as a web3 Creative. Most recently, Atara created Jeff the artist, a virtual being in the web3 space. And made the Dalle-Punks a unique and AI-created NFT project. Johannes is also an advisor for Luxy.io and several NFT projects.