Building Hearts and Minds for Robots


Who We Are

Echo & Shadow was founded as a method of addressing commercial, cultural, and educational roles for software robots. The Echo & Shadow Platform™ represents more than three years development by over two dozen engineers from six different countries. The company holds several patents relating to Artificial Intelligence and Avatar infrastructure.

Echo & Shadow is now taking that work and moving it forward into the open market.

Biographies

Echo & Shadow is a collection and collaboration of over two dozen professionals from around the world.

Mark Stephen Meadows, Founder – President


Mark MeadowsFor over fifteen years Mark has worked at the intersection of cuture and technology. He is an award-winning artist, engineer, and author, with books including I, Avatar (2008) and Pause & Effect (2003). In 2005, Mark founded HeadCase Humanufacturing, a precursor to Echo & Shadow which developed much of the Echo & Shadow Platform™. Over the years, his career has included Artist-in-Residence / Researcher at Xerox-PARC, Creative Director for a venture of Stanford Research Institute, consultant to dozens of companies, and founder of Construct, a seminal Web design firm in the 1990s. His 3D animation and interactive design includes work for Lucasfilm, Sony Pictures, and Microsoft. As an artist, Mark sells his work in galleries and museums throughout the United States and Europe, and he has received the highest honors from Ars Electronica (The Goldern Nica) and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.

Gaby K. Benkwitz, Co-Founder - Product Management


Gaby BenkwitzGaby is an Internet veteran with twenty years experience in the multimedia industry. Her know-how in virtual worlds, social media, and chatbots uniquely blends with her background in psychology and management consulting. She worked for the acclaimed German multimedia agency Pixelpark in the early nineties, starting out in Berlin as a 3D graphics designer, initiating the Internet division in 1994, then spending a year as their online outpost in San Francisco. In 1996, she co-founded mezzoconsult C.B. in Mallorca, Spain, a company developing cutting edge online technology and advising corporations like Hubert Burda Media and Axel Springer AG in innovation and virtual world strategies for several years. Since reading Asimov's "I, Robot" in her childhood she's been dreaming of building robots with hearts and minds.

Sean Brunwin, Co-Founder – Technology


Sean BrunwinSean has twenty-plus years experience in the design and development of database systems, content management systems, internet presence solutions, decision support and knowledge engineering solutions for the financial, internet and computer science industries. He has worked as a solutions architect, project director, and implementation manager. Sean, inspired by robots since the days of lost in space, has preserved a fascination with Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Processing, and the social, moral, and commercial implications that this technology demands.

Gesh, Co-Founder - Engineering


AJ PeraltaGesh began his career with an 8-bit Russian computer, playing Karateka at the age of 6. Finishing his BS in Information Technology he has since then been building bridges between J2EE and J2ME aplications for a variaty of German companies. Gesh spends most of his free time playing World of Warcraft, but prefers to spend his longer vacations away from technology - mountain hiking or just backpacking through new cities.

Stephen Newman, Co-Founder -Information Technologies


Corey LohmanOnline since 1990, Stephen has journeyed from running a BBS to running an ISP, eventually developing a career detangling and simplifying Internet access. Working for years in the field as Unix Admin, Network Admin, and even Salesman, Stephen has a love of operating systems, distributed computing, and all things Unix. With a passion for "up-time", he enjoys his analog life very much as well, living on the Central Coast.

Arnaldo J Peralta, Co-Founder – Business & Marketing


AJ PeraltaArnaldo (AJ) is a creative executive with twenty years experience in interactive entertainment. As executive vice president of entertainment at Icarus Studios, an MMOG and virtual worlds developer, he has been advising and developing projects with clients including MTV, FOX, and Discovery Communications, among others. Recently AJ co-founded Media Machines (aka Vivaty), a venture-backed, virtual worlds platform for the Web. Through his consultancy, The Crestview Group, AJ has also worked extensively with companies including Coca-Cola, Ogilvy Advertising, and all major film studios and music companies. Mr. Peralta also co-founded Lamuz, Inc. a Tokyo-based publisher, where he delivered nearly two dozen virtual world and 3D modeling applications and services and won MacLife Magazine’s Product of the Year Award for Virtus VR, a consumer virtual world making application.

Board of Advisors

Denise Caruso - A veteran journalist and analyst with more than 15 years experience observing digital media, Caruso is the executive director of the Hybrid Vigor Institute and is a leading thinker on risks that new technologies introduce. She is also the author of the award-winning book, "Intervention: Confronting the Real Risks of Genetic Engineering and Life on a Biotech Planet."

Ben Cerveny - Ben is a highly regarded experience designer and strategist whose clients include Nokia, Sony, Philips, and Flickr. A twelve-year veteran of the interaction design field he is completing a forthcoming book on games as system models.

Sandy Climan / Souris Hong-Poretta (EMV) – Mr Climan, formerly of CAA (Hollywood) brings his decades of experience in entertainment and media ventures to bear, helping Echo & Shadow navigate the larger entertainment industry landscape.

Julian Dibbell – Author of “Play Money” and other books about virtual worlds and games, Mr Dibbell serves as a strategic advisor, assisting Echo & Shadow with his foresight and industry awareness.

Patrick Mahoney – Mr Mahoney, an active software entrepreneur and investor, offers advice on the operations, finances, and management of Echo & Shadow.

Jan Mallis - An accomplished producer with nearly 20 years' experience in the interactive character space, Jan advises the company both in regards to strategy and content development.

Nathan Shedroff – Author of “Experience Design” Mr Shedroff was one of the inventors of the interactive media industry and advises Echo & Shadow on strategy, ethics, and legal concerns.

Yanon Volcani – Dr. Volcani has over 30 years experience as a practicing psychologist and provides advice on the psychological aspects of Echo & Shadow's software.

If you're interested in joining, please let us know.


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© 2007-2008 Echo & Shadow, Inc.