Dr. Tom Furness is an amalgam of University Professor, Inventor, Virtual Reality Pioneer and Entrepreneur in a professional career spanning 59 years.  He has made notable contributions in photonics, electro-optics, human interface technology, and their application in medicine, education, training, design and entertainment.  He is considered the ‘grandfather’ of virtual reality and augmented reality.  Tom earned a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Duke University in 1966 and the Ph.D. in Engineering and Applied Science from the University of Southampton, England in 1981.  For 33 years he served as a Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Washington (UW), Seattle, Washington, USA and the founder of the Human Interface Technology Laboratory (HIT Lab) at UW and founder and international director of the HIT Lab NZ at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand and the HIT Lab Australia at the University of Tasmania, Launceston, Tasmania.

Prior to joining the faculty at the UW, Tom served a combined 23 years as an U.S. Air Force officer and civilian scientist at the Armstrong Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, where he developed advanced cockpits and virtual interfaces for the Department of Defense.  He is the author of the Super Cockpit program and served as the Chief of Visual Display Systems and Super Cockpit Director until he joined the University of Washington in 1989.

Since the beginning of his career Tom has continued to play an active role in virtual and augmented reality development and application.  In 1998 he received the Discover Award for his invention of the virtual retinal display. Tom is co-inventor of the ChromaID technology licensed to Visualant Inc. and received the 2013 SPIE Prism Award for this work. In June 2015 he gave keynote titled ‘Being the future’ at the Augmented World Expo in Santa Clara, California, where he received the first ‘Auggie’ lifetime achievement award for his 50-year contribution to the VR and AR Industries. In March 2016 Tom received the IEEE VR Career Award for his lifetime contributions to the fields of virtual and Augmented Reality and in October 2016 the Virtual Reality Foundation of Los Angeles Proto Award also for lifetime achievement.  In November 2021 Tom was presented the Accenture Lifetime Achievement Award by the Academy of International Extended Reality and Elected to the IEEE VTCG Academy.  Most recently in October 2023 Tom was awarded the first Heart for Humanity Award by the Girls S.T.E.A.M. Institute.

Tom lectures widely and has appeared in many national and international network and syndicated television science and technology documentaries and news programs.  He has testified before the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee.  He is the inventor of the personal eyewear display, the virtual retinal display, the HALO display and holds 26 patents in advanced sensor, display and interface technologies. With his colleagues and students Dr. Furness has published over 400 papers and conference proceedings and started 27 companies, two of which are traded on NASDAQ at a market capitalization of > $ 15 B (USD).  In 2005 he founded the RATLab LLC, a private company where he experiments with advanced sensors and biophotonics.

Tom is a Fellow of the IEEE and a member of the Computer Society and Photonics Society of the IEEE. He is the founder and chairman emeritus of the Virtual World Society, a non-profit for extending virtual reality as a learning system for families and other humanitarian applications.  In June 2025 at Augmented World Expo he announced that under his direction the Virtual World Society was starting a new initiative called The Light School.  The Light School will be a pioneering academy that trains individuals to navigate their inner and outer worlds using immersive technology, AI, and quantum consciousness—awakening their full potential and cultivating the attributes of transcendence to uplift humanity.

Pia Leichter is a creative partner, published author, certified coach, and entrepreneur. Her path has been anything but ordinary: a recovering nomad, she’s reported as a journalist in Sri Lanka, graduated summa cum laude from NYU, and worked as an award-winning creative director for some of the biggest brands in the world. Now, as the founder of Kollektiv Studio, she’s uniquely positioned to co-create wild visions and ventures. 

She recently published Welcome to the Creative Club, a book that challenges everything people thought they knew about creativity. Praised by Google's Global Head of Creative & Innovation as "life-changing" and by iconic fashion designer Betsey Johnson as "a wild ride," this part-memoir, part-guide invites readers to make life their biggest art project and reclaim their creative power.

Janice Baker is a Registered Dietitian /Nutritionist, Certified Diabetes Care & Education Specialist, Certified Nutrition Support Clinician, and Board Certified-Advanced Diabetes Management. 

Connect with Janice on Facebook: https://facebook.com/BakerNutrition

Accomplished composer, arranger and pianist Paul McDonald’s music reflects the experience and influences gained in a career that has taken him all over the world. This thirty five-year international professional career began in his homeland of England. After studying jazz piano and arranging, composition, music education in Billingham, UK, Paul worked in London for over ten years as a session pianist and arranger. During that time Paul’s arrangements and compositions were featured regularly on BBC Radio where he worked with the BBC Radio Big band and Orchestra for six years.

In 1989 Paul became musical director for some of the world’s premier cruise lines including Star Cruises in Singapore and Holland America Line. Paul moved to Los Angeles in 2000 and has worked successfully there as a composer, arranger and pianist. His arrangements and compositions can be heard on TV and radio having written and arranged music for Warner Bros, Fox TV and a host of Independent movies. He continues to write music for the cruise ship industry and his music is featured regularly on Holland America line, Celebrity Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line and Crystal Cruise Line.

Over the last 20 years Paul has worked as a composer and pianist in Southern California with his own big band, sextet, quartet, and as a studio musician and accompanist. The Paul McDonald 17-piece big band performs regularly around Southern California and Las Vegas to mostly sold-out audiences. Showcasing the virtuosity and versatility of some the finest musicians in Los Angeles, Paul’s explosive arrangements and compositions aim to bring the classic sound of big band jazz into the 21st century while simultaneously honoring the great tradition of this uniquely American sound.

The Paul McDonald jazz quartet album “West View” was released in the spring of 2010. Paul is also a guest conductor and arranger for the Palm Desert Symphony Orchestra. Paul continues to be in demand as arranger and composer for numerous singers, performers, tv shows, radio and movies.

You know how they say “life gets greater later?”

Well, hand her a champagne flute and multi hyphenate entrepreneur and the woman some might call the “modern-day Harriet Tubman” of the Black travel movement would certainly toast to that! “Accidentally” launching her millions-generating, bonafide global crusade Black in Tulum in her early 40s, Nubia Younge — a single mom from the ‘hood’ in Boston who didn’t get her passport stamp until she was 32 — says she was probably the last person to see her success helping usher in now tens of thousands Black American travelers, weary of microaggressions in the workplace for one, to Mexico, coming.

“Despite having like, zero, professional background in travel, I’ve always had a passion for hospitality and bringing people together,” says the former administrative assistant and corporate meeting planner who, over the last five years, has watched “Black In Tulum” blow up so big it literally spawned unrelated “Black In” movements in dozens of countries worldwide – from Thailand to Portugal – causing her to eventually trademark it.

“Quarantined in Tulum during the Pandemic,” she explains,” I noticed a small group of other Black travelers and decided to host a brunch on the beach for us. At that time, there weren’t many Black folks living there, let alone any kind of real Black social network, so the brunch, which I organized for free, was a hit, and word spread quickly. That day I created a Facebook group called “Black in Tulum,” and the community grew from 25 to 28,000 in just four” years.

“By my third event,” continues the unintentional entrepreneur, who now owns Black In Tulum, Black in Travel and Black Card Elite Concierge Services,“ a travel agent suggested I charge for tickets, so I did, starting small.”

What began as a simple idea to connect people quickly grew into her first full-fledged business. From 2020 to 2023, Black in Tulum became a major hub for Black American travelers from Tulum to Playa del Carmen, now one of the world’s top destinations for Black American expats, offering everything from beach brunches to yacht parties. Some of the events she put on, says Younge, generated enough revenue in just one night for Younge to pay her rent for years.Leveling up to partner with venues and negotiating commissions to host events there — literally helping COVID-strapped businesses survive — Younge soon realized she wasn’t just providing a social service for clients and an economic boost to local businesses, she was facilitating a major economic boost for herself and her family.

Taking note of the literal flood of predominantly Black travelers continually flocking to her for advice on where to stay, which restaurants to go to and what else to do during their travels, Younge’s budding brand really took off when she launched what would later become “Black Card Elite,” a concierge service to help meet their demands, which brings in $30 to $50K a year.

Within four years she had made close to $2 million. “I didn’t have anyone guiding me—this success was built from the ground up, says the former welfare recipient, community college graduate and English tutor who has gone on to employ her adult son along with 12 contractors – along with 8 regularly spinning DJS – to work across her businesses. The next hurdle, though? Much like a lottery winner, figuring out, and quickly, how to accommodate all this newfound success. “When I worked in Corporate, I don’t think I ever made more than $60,000 a year, like ever. So here I am, making close to 2 million bucks in just a couple of years, and I’m like, ‘Oh My God. Now I have to really learn business. I have to hire a lawyer. I have to hire a CPA. I’m holding on for dear life, like Nubia, we can’t go into this with a scarcity mindset. I had to self-talk myself through this whole process because in addition to all of this success happening organically – I never paid for ads or marketing, it was all word of mouth – I didn’t have a mentor. I didn’t have anybody telling me the best direction to go in.”

These days, Nubia knows exactly where she’s headed. With Black in Tulum now a globally-recognized cultural vehicle for Black travelers, with well over 100,000 followers across all social media platforms, her focus is now serving as an enthusiastic ambassador for Black women of a certain age across all backgrounds who wish to the “soft life” in this politically tumultuous era.

“I plan to provide specially curated retreats globally where all women need to do is kick up their feet, and prepare to be wined and dined like the queens they are,” she says of her newest brand, Ori Table. Ori is a word from the Yoruba tradition that basically means divine alignment, while it also means “the head.” “These retreats are going to be very intimate, like, eight people total, in luxurious places around the world where you’re investing in yourself, you’re investing in rest, you’re investing in the environment” – she explains of her intent around sustainability –“ but we’re also doing maybe a workshop or two within the retreat centered around giving your life even ‘more.’ If your ‘more’ is wanting to be an entrepreneur, scale your business or whatever,” she explains,“ then we’ll discuss those things, because as women who have often given the best of themselves to others, it is actually we who are most deserving.”

Nubia’s travel avatar for Ori Table looks a lot like her because it is – the woman who has spent many years feeling like she wasn’t enough but decided, once and for all, to bust out of society’s prison. “Everything I’ve built stems from me evolving into my true authentic self – I’ve gone through the coals, through the fire, and now I’m showing up organically for myself and others,” she says. “I’m excited to continue to offer global-scale events, experiences and slices of cultural joy to those who wish to revel in them.”

Chris Tai teaches what machines can’t: how to feel, how to choose, how to live.

He is a breathwork coach, philosopher, and lifelong martial artist. Founder of InhaleXcel, a system dedicated to mastering the breath as a gateway to presence, excellence and purpose.

With over 40 years of experience in movement and internal discipline, Chris has trained with monks, misfits, and masters around the world. In 2014, he became the first certified Wim Hof instructor in both the US and France. Since then, he has developed his own practice blending physiology, Taoist wisdom, and somatic intelligence into a direct, embodied practice.

Chris trains coaches, mentors high performers, and leads workshops across the US and Europe. His work is not wellness. It’s not optimization. It’s a rebellion of presence. Breath is the entry point. Ownership is the path.

Chris’s mission is simple: to prepare people for the moments that matter, through truth, through movement, through breath.

His motto is : “Be the light, not the flame.”

Chris Tai Melodista was born in Paris in 1974 to his Vietnamese mother and French-Jewish adoptive father. He began his training in diverse styles of martial arts at the age of 6 and obtained his black belt in Japanese jiu-jitsu at 17. Chris competed in the first MMA competition in France and has since invested over 40 years in martial arts practice and more than 30 years in the discipline of personal development.

In his 20s, Chris traveled to Lhasa, Tibet, to deepen his practice in Buddhism at its source. During his stay, he had the opportunity to teach Kung Fu and Qi Gong to some of the monks. After almost a decade of working as a photographer in advertising and fashion for numerous high-end companies in Madrid, Chris moved to the U.S. in 2009, seeking to make more of an impact in the world.

Chris has achieved an impressive series of certifications, including life and love consciousness coaching with Kathlyn and Gay Hendricks, NLP licensed master practitioner, clinical hypnosis, Pranayama and Qi Gong, Russian martial art Systema instructor, combatives instructor, and MovNat trainer level 1&2, as well as stick massage bodywork therapy. In 2014, Chris traveled to Poland to meet and study with Wim Hof and became the first person certified by Wim Hof, aka “The Iceman,” in the U.S. and France. He also mentored with Dan Brulé to further his style of breathwork.

Chris Tai is the founder of Radical Expansion, a company dedicated to performance coaching through breathwork, movement, and mindfulness. He created this company to teach the knowledge he had compiled throughout his lifetime. The simple and easy method he founded is now taught by coaches in Europe and the U.S. Over thousands of people and hundreds of seminars worldwide have benefited from this practice.

Chris considers himself an eternal student and continues to teach and encourage people to become the person they were searching for through practice and quality of choice.

Yoga Shyp is an LA-based musician and producer known for crafting immersive, emotional soundscapes. His music blends psychedelic guitar, ambient textures, and soul-infused vocals — drawing inspiration from artists like Ry X, Radiohead, Sigur Rós, Pink Floyd, José González, Bon Iver, Ben Howard, and Alexi Murdoch. Known for ethereal live performances, Yoga Shyp creates dreamlike atmospheres that invite listeners into deep introspection and connection.

Brief Biography on Mefford from an excerpt from The Katy News: Child Advocates of Fort Bend CEO Ruthanne Mefford Named One of Houston Business Journal’s 2020 Women Who Mean Business

Mefford was honored for her achievements leading Child Advocates of Fort Bend for the past 11 years as CEO and her 30-year career spanning the private and public sectors.  During her tenure at Child Advocates of Fort Bend, the agency has grown from a small organization with a couple dozen employees to a full-service, comprehensive, “one-stop-shop” for 3000 children and families every year who have experienced sexual abuse, physical abuse or neglect. Through a disciplined approach and careful strategic planning, CAFB has expanded services and programs and just completed an $8.3 million capital campaign in record time to completely renovate and enlarge its facility including the opening of a new 10,000 square foot Children’s Advocacy Center, a state-of-the-art Training and Learning Center to train CASA Advocates who serve children in foster care, expanded space for partner agencies in the Fort Bend County child abuse divisions of the District Attorney’s and County Attorney’s Offices, Sheriff’s Office and CPS to work collaboratively in its Multi-Disciplinary Team model and a nature-filled indoor-outdoor environment that brings compassion and healing to children and families on its newly-named Davis George Campus.  Through its Court Appointed Special Advocates Program (CASA), Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) and more than 800 volunteers including 200 CASA Volunteer Advocates, Child Advocates of Fort Bend has provided life-changing services to more than 17,500 children since it opened its doors in 1991.

Prior to joining CAFB, Mefford was a finance, marketing and strategic planning executive at Marriott, Ocean Spray, IBM and Metamor IT.  She has been very involved in the Greater Houston community serving as a Trustee of The George Foundation, and on the Board of Directors for the Center For Houston’s Future, Greater Houston HealthConnect, OakBend Medical Center, and the Fort Bend Children’s Discovery Center.  For seven years, she served on the Board of Directors of the Stanford University Alumni Association, her alma mater, where she was President.  She is a member of the Fort Bend Junior Service League and the Exchange Club of Sugar Land.