Advisors

Chris Genteel

Chris Genteel

Director of Procurement Responsibility, Google

Chris is Google’s first Director of Responsibility, leading efforts to promote Supplier Diversity and environmental sustainability through Google’s buying. In 13 years at Google Chris has led programs & partnerships that have driven $2.5B+ in direct economic impact for entrepreneurs from communities of color and women & lgbtq entrepreneurs while driving bottom-line and user trust outcomes. As Director of Business Inclusion Chris created Google’s Supplier Diversity Program for diverse-owned businesses to access to procurement opportunities, the Product Inclusion initiative to embed inclusive design principles in Google’s products, Grow with Google Digital Coaches, the Digital Excellence Program and Accelerate with Google to help businesses in communities of color succeed using the web, and Connect, Google’s internal volunteer platform which has enabled 7K employees to engage in diversity projects globally in their “20% time.” His industry work includes mentoring tech companies in Business Inclusion, leading cross-industry Supplier Diversity initiatives and supporting and investing in the black tech ecosystem.

Chris started as Manager of Google’s Online Sales group helping mid-sized B2B firms grow on the web. Chris is a 2020 Council of Urban Professionals (CUP) Catalyst in Technology, was named 2021 Rainbow PUSH Tech Influencer by Rev’d Jesse Jackson, Sr., has been awarded for advancing minority business development, was an MLT Career Advancement Program Fellow, and was named one of DBusiness Magazine’s 30-in-their-30s. His early career was in nonprofit management. At EmcArts Consulting he managed web-based knowledge-sharing and capacity building programs for arts organizations and their funders. Chris holds a BA in Humanities from Yale University and MBA from the Michigan Ross School of Business. He volunteers with nonprofits and is an Advisory Board Member of Tuck Executive Education at Dartmouth and a Sustaining Director of the University Musical Society. Chris lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with his wife Dara and 3 children where he writes, records and performs his own brand of hip hop & rock music. He is a proud native New Yorker.

Tony Parisi

Tony Parisi

Head of XR Ads and E-Commerce at Unity

Metaverse OG. Entrepreneur. Investor. Co-Creator, VRML, X3D & glTF. Former head of XR Ads and E-Commerce at Unity Technologies. Author, musician, and composer.

Tony Parisi is a Metaverse and virtual reality pioneer, entrepreneur, investor, author and musician. He has co-created several international 3D graphics standards, including VRML, X3D, and glTF. Tony is the author of O’Reilly Media’s foundational books on 3D graphics and VR, Learning Virtual Reality (2015), Programming 3D Applications in HTML5 and WebGL (2014), and WebGL Up and Running(2012).

One of the leading spokespeople for the immersive industry, Tony has given speeches in multiple countries about industry trends and innovation in augmented reality. He was named in Next Reality’s 30 People to Watch in Augmented Reality in 2020.

Tony is currently serving as Chief Strategy Officer at Lamina1, a new layer 1 blockchain for the Metaverse. He is also an advisor and limited partner in early stage venture firms including ME Ventures, a future-focused investment fund providing opportunities for creators to grow and succeed. Previously, Tony was Head of XR Ads and E-Commerce at Unity, where he oversaw strategy and product for the company’s real-time 3D brand advertising and commerce solutions.

Tony is also a composer and musician. He is currently finishing the cast recording for Judgment Day, a full-length original musical, and has several other music projects underway.

Keith Niedermeier

Keith Niedermeier

Clinical Professor of Marketing at the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University

For 16 years, Keith was the Director of the Undergraduate Marketing Program and an Adjunct Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He also spent five years as an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Penn State University. Additionally, Keith is a recurring Visiting Professor at the Peking University, Beijing International MBA program. Keith received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Michigan State University. Before going into academics, he worked in advertising and marketing communications at a large Midwest firm focusing on the automotive industry and business-to-business marketing.

Dr. Niedermeier’s research focuses on consumer decision-making. Dr. Niedermeier’s research has been published in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Psychology and Marketing, as well as several other journals and conferences proceedings. He is also the co-author of two books. Furthermore, Professor Niedermeier is an award-winning instructor, having taught Introductory Marketing, Consumer Behavior, Advertising Management, and Marketing Strategy classes at the undergraduate, MBA, and Executive MBA levels Dr. Niedermeier has consulted and taught specialized executive education sessions for firms such as Google, Zillow, Citi, Merrill Lynch/Bank of America, KPMG, AXA/Equitable, UBS, Comcast, Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, and Morning Consult.

Dan Wilkins

Dan Wilkins

Director of Communications and Manager of The Tom Olin Collection

Aside from being a dad, husband, friend, chair-user, writer, graphic designer, humorist, Brown’s fan, and a million other things, Dan Wilkins, is an outspoken advocate, storyteller, and visionary for people living with disabilities and the culture to which they belong.

Since 1989, he has been sharing stories on a broad range of topics from disability and diversity awareness to the importance of humor, building inclusive communities, and seeing through bigger eyes.

Until joining the Coalition for Disability Rights and Justice, Dan was the Director of Special Projects for The Ability Center, a Center for Independent Living located here in Sylvania, Ohio, where, over the past 14 years he spent his energy at talent handling PR and Marketing, outreach and speaking, as well as researching its 100-year history. Prior to this he sat on the Center’s Board of Trustees for nine years, including two years as Board Chair.

From 1990 to 2008, he was proprietor of The Nth Degree, a graphics and shirt design company for the disability community. He spent the years travelling the country, speaking at and supporting conferences focused on Inclusion, Education, and Disability Empowerment.

He continues to manage the archive of Tom Olin, the social documentarian and photographer for the Disability Rights movement since 1983. He lives in the suburbs of Luckey, Ohio, with his wife, Beth, a long-time OT-turned-Massage Therapist.