Bio

Sometimes called the “man from the future”, Tom is recognized as one of the world’s leading thought leaders in augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and wearable technology. He is verified as a Top Voice on LinkedIn and was listed as a Top Voice in Technology. A pioneer in this space, Tom started working in augmented reality in 2009 and has over a decade-long track record of running tech teams and providing strategic direction in emerging technologies for powerhouse brands and organizations. As Director of Product Management, Tom is leading product and marketing for 8th Wall, now a part of Niantic, which offers a powerful development platform to create web-based augmented reality (WebAR). Since the launch of its WebAR platform in late 2018, 8th Wall has powered web apps for top brands across industry verticals including Nike, adidas, COACH, Sony Pictures, Burger King, McDonald's, General Mills, Heineken, Coca-Cola, Toyota, Porsche and more. Previous to his role at Niantic, Tom played a critical role in building the AR/VR/Wearables community. In 2013, Tom founded We Are Wearables which he grew to the largest wearable tech community of its kind. It was acquired by AugmentedReality(dot)org, the non-profit behind the world's #1 spatial computing community, AWE. At AWE, Tom produced conference & expos in the USA, EU, Asia and MEA for nearly six years, growing the AWE community to over 250,000 worldwide and expanding its meetup chapters around the world. Tom has invested in the AR ecosystem as one of the founding partners at Super Ventures, a Silicon Valley based VC fund dedicated to early staging investing in AR. Super Ventures investments include Gravity Sketch, Cognitive3D, Quantum Capture and 6D.ai which was acquired by Niantic. His past experience also includes covering the AR/VR/Wearables space as a freelance journalist for tech publications like MobileSyrup and as a wearable tech expert on a recurring TV segment on Canada's largest morning show, CTV's Canada AM. In 2012, Billion-dollar revenue global events leader, UBM, acquired Tom’s influential blog about wearable tech, which was one of the earliest sources of news and analysis in the sector. Tom’s thoughts on AR and the metaverse are often sought after by media giants such as CNN, BBC, Forbes and NY Times and presented on stage at conferences such as TEDx, Slush, CES, Festival de Cannes, Elevate, SXSW, SPIE & Siggraph. Tom's Web3 username is tomemrich.eth. Contact Tom by email at tom@tomemrich.com. 😎 🇨🇦 🏳️‍🌈