We are pleased to announce a premier event to discuss Metaverse with key experts from companies like Qualcomm, Lenovo, Microsoft, Meta, Augmentalis and Linked Objects. 

There will be a panel discussion along with Diwali celebration- the festival of lights. Authentic Indian street food will also be served. Please come with your families to enjoy this amazing event to be held at:

Atkinson Hall
University of California, Dan Diego
9500 Gillman Drive
La Jolla, CA 92093

The parking for this event will be at:

Hopkins Parking Structure Address: Hopkins Dr, La Jolla, CA 92093

Panel Theme:
“Metaverse, an alternate digital world of reality. Is it Real or Hyped?”

Panelists

Rajnikant (Raj) Gupta, Global Head, Strategic Partnerships for Emerging Technology at Tata Consultancy Services (Moderator)

Raj has been in various leadership roles for almost 25 years and has extensive and diversified work experience spanning across multiple geographies, industries, technologies, and cultures.

He is currently leading the charter for Innovation and Ecosystem led growth for TCS. Raj is driving synergies between the technology leaders across various domains and tech spectrum such as 5G, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Wearables, High Performance Computing and most recently Metaverse for creating new multimillion dollar business offerings from Ideation through Monetization.

He is also leading the charter for relationships with Analysts and Research firms globally for the Communications, Media, and Technology business for TCS.

He is also coaching large companies and startups to create partner programs for an effective Go to Market strategy.

Raj holds an undergraduate degree in Electronics Engineering from National Institute of Technology, Nagpur. He firmly believes that doing more really matters and believes in eating healthy, thinking positive and most important staying happy.

Feroz Mohummed, Global Head of xR Services Commercial AR/VR, ThinkReality, Lenovo

Feroz Mohummed is the Global Head of Lenovo ThinkReality xR Services & Industrial Solutions. At Lenovo, he built AR/VR Services business from scratch, and under his leadership, Lenovo has successfully deployed multiple Enterprise AR/VR solutions across the globe. Feroz is also the President - VRAR Association - Silicon Valley Chapter. Before joining Lenovo, Feroz was one of the founding team members at RealWear, where he wore many hats, including Product Marketing, Product Management, and Global Solutions Engineering. Under his leadership, the team led many successful deployments of RealWear solutions for enterprise customers worldwide. Feroz also worked at Cisco Headquarters & led the Technical Marketing for Energy & Utilities Solutions in the Industrial IoT Vertical Solutions. In addition, at Cisco, he defined the Connected Worker program using Enterprise Wearables, including different smart glasses.

Feroz graduated from Santa Clara University with a Master of Science degree in Engineering Management & Leadership, specializing in Entrepreneurship. Feroz has over 25 years of experience in Enterprise Solutions, building business groups from scratch, defining GTM strategies, and building strategic alliances.

Gioia Messinger, Founder/CEO LinkedObjects, Board member, venture capital advisor

Gioia Messinger, brings more than 30 years of high technology experience focused on consumer electronics, Internet of Things (IoT), robotics/artificial intelligence (AI) and digital health as Founder/CEO, board member, interim executive and venture capital advisor.  Gioia is the founder and Principal of LinkedObjects, Inc., a strategic advisory services business focused on digital transformation brought about by AI and IoT. In addition to founding and leading several start-ups. She’s an inventor on 11 patents.
Gioia also founded and served as CEO of Avaak, Inc., now Arlo Technologies, that created Arlo, the award-winning smart video security system for the home that defined the category and is now the market leader. Earlier in her career, she contributed to the development of the PillCam™.
Currently, Gioia, is an advisor to several start-ups and serves on the board of One Stop Systems, a provider of high-performance computing used for artificial intelligence (AI) applications on the edge, Indyme Solutions, LLC, a provider of IoT and AI solutions for the world’s largest retailers and CARI Health, Inc., a developer of innovative personalized Connected Health solutions. She is also a member of the Dean’s Council of Advisors at UC San Diego, Jacobs School of Engineering.
Gioia obtained her MBA from the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine and her B.S./M.A. in Computer Engineering from University of California, San Diego.  

Manoj Jhawar, Founder/CEO Augmentalis

Manoj Jhawar has had a varied and diverse set of experiences all centered around bringing technology and user needs to the market. His career started writing games while in high school, to making computers in college. From there Mr. Jhawar set his sights on solving problems that therefore were not acknowledged as problems due to the nascency of technology.
His innovations created a complete replacement for PLC based systems at Enaqua in 1992 to one of the first IOT hardware and software combinations – reducing costs by up to 90% and software development from months to minutes with no code solutions. Mr. Jhawar was instrumental in acquiring in both Software to Hardware the most recent in the Smart Device/Glass space. He has turned around many companies ranging from small to large $75,000,000 turnover.
Mr. Jhawar also serves on the Board of Directors and assists companies to better governance and operational efficiency.
Mr. Jhawar is also an angel investor through MSJ Resources, providing funding, guidance, and other assistance to innovate startups. As he has also been involved with the success of multiple companies leading to successful buyouts, such as Enaqua, in 1998.
Manoj has several patents issued in a variety of fields from Mobile Software of AR, and the design of unique disinfection products.

Pankaj Kedia, Senior Director & Global Head for the Qualcomm Smart Wearables and Shareable Audio Segments

Pankaj Kedia is an intrapreneur and innovator in the technology sector with a proven track record incubating a range of new businesses over the last 25+ years at leading Fortune 100 companies. Currently at Qualcomm, Pankaj leads the wearables, audio, and ecosystem businesses with global P&L responsibility.  

Pankaj has collaborated with customers to define industry's first modern laptops at Intel. He has founded and grown the wearables business at Qualcomm to a 9-figure franchise. He is proud of how these mobile and wearable innovations have empowered 100s of millions of people around the world and improved the way we work, play, live, and share.

Pankaj has been a board member at multiple non-profit organizations and currently is actively serving on the Salvation Army and Wearable Tech Ventures boards. He is widely recognized as a thought leader in the mobile and wearables space, has spoken at multiple industry events, and appeared in a myriad of mainstream publications. He holds the early defining patent on low power for mobile devices and computers.

 Pankaj has an MBA from The Wharton School, an MS from the University of Michigan, a BS from the Indian Institute of Technology and has taken multiple management and leadership courses at Stanford and Darden in his quest for life-long learning. He is a TED speaker, amateur photographer, and a gadget addict.

Dr. Ramesh Rao, Director of the Qualcomm Institute, UCSD division of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology

Dr. Rao has been a faculty member at UC San Diego since 1984, and Director of the Qualcomm Institute, UCSD division of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2), since 2001. He holds the Qualcomm Endowed Chair in Telecommunications and Information Technologies in the Jacobs School of Engineering at UCSD, and is a member of the school’s Electrical and Computer Engineering department.

Prior to QI (Calit2), Professor Rao served as the Director of UCSD’s Center for Wireless Communications (CWC). Dr. Rao is involved on a day-to-day basis with a wide variety of research initiatives at QI. Dr. Rao is an IEEE Fellow and Senior Fellow of the California Council on Science and Technology. He was named a Member of the Board of the Academy of Neurosciences for Architecture, a Member of the Rady Children’s Hospital and Health Center Board IT Task Force and serves on the Board of Directors of CONNECT. Dr. Rao has been a long time member of the San Diego Indian American Society and currently serves as the Vice President for the Board of Governors.

Dr. Rao earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1984, after receiving his M.S. from the same institution in 1982. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in 1980 from the University of Madras (the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirapalli). Dr. Rao received the distinguished alumnus award from the National Institute of Technology in 2010, the ECE Distinguished alumni award from the University of Maryland in 2012, the Professional Gordon Engineering Leadership Award from UCSD’s Gordon Engineering Leadership Center in 2010. He also received the 2011 Casa Familiar Abrazo Award for engagement with underprivileged area of San Diego.