Cathy Hackl is a leading tech futurist and globally recognized business leader with
deep expertise in augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), spatial computing, & the
metaverse. She is one of LinkedIn’s top technology voices (the highest honor on the
platform) and a champion for diversity in tech.

Hackl has worked with some of the biggest names in tech including Amazon Web
Services (AWS), Magic Leap, and HTC VIVE. She leads the Futures Intelligence Group
& Future Metaverse Labs, an emerging technology consulting firm and lab that helps
brands through strategic foresight and next-gen actionable strategies, helping
brands and businesses enter the metaverse via virtual goods, virtual worlds, AR VR,
and gaming.

Hackl also serves as VP at Avatar Dimension, the only Microsoft Mixed Reality
volumetric video capture studio on the East Coast helping brands in entertainment,
fashion, enterprise, and beyond create holograms. Avatar Dimension helped
Dimension Studio in London with some of the work on Balenciaga’s futuristic fusion
of volumetric capture and video gaming for the launch of their 2021 Fall Collection.
This project incorporated 50 volumetric characters, one of the largest volumetric
video projects ever undertaken.

BigThink named Cathy one of the top 10 most influential women in tech in 2020 and
she’s been called the CEO’s business guide to the metaverse. Cathy was included in
the 2021 prestigious Thinkers50 Radar list of the 30 management thinkers most likely
to shape the future of how organizations are managed and led. She’s a Limited
Partner at the WXR Fund, which invests in female-led early-stage startups focused
on the next phase of the internet and AI.

She is a sought-after keynote speaker and author. She has spoken at CES, SXSW,
Comic-Con, Adobe Summit, Harvard Business School. Facebook, Twitter, Aspen
Institute, In-Q-Tel, US Navy, SDA Bocconi, IE, Singularity University, and many other
places.

Cathy is a professionally trained futurist and uses strategic foresight and futures
intelligence to harness weak signals and today’s emerging trends and help
companies and brands future-proof their long-term strategic planning.
Hackl has been featured in media outlets like 60 Minutes, CNBC, CNN, NBC News,
Forbes, Vogue Business, Barron’s, Salon, VentureBeat, Digiday, Digital Trends,
CMO.com, and Mashable. She is a global advisor for VR AR Association and was
recognized in 2016 by NBC News as one of the top Latina women working in VR.
Before working in technology, she worked at media companies such as CNN,
Discovery, and ABC News and was nominated in 2007 for an EMMY Award for her
storytelling work. She’s also the creator of the world’s first holographic press release
and loves all things spatial computing, digital economy, and futurism.