Meet the experts who are helping to shape the WEAR 2019 program.
Ben is a passionate product and business developer driven by the need to find practical solutions to real world problems. Previously, Ben was a founding member of VF Corporation's Global Innovation Center. He led the product research and testing initiatives for Timberland, Vans and The North Face innovation, and VF’s wearable tech exploratory group. Before that, Ben co-founded the "smart" infant monitoring start-up, Sensible Baby, which gained international recognition for its innovative approach to disrupting the juvenile products space. Prior to that, he was the Lead Footwear Project Engineer for the US Army and successfully led fast-paced multi-million dollar development efforts for the United States Department of Defense.
Dan Ledger is founder and principal at Path Collaborative, an advisory and research firm working at the broader intersection of wearable technology, connected health, IoT and machine intelligence. Path Collaborative is a network of industry experts who help OEMs and service providers in the wearable technology space with product strategy, partnerships, go-to-market planning, and technology differentiation.
Prior to forming Path Collaborative, Dan was a principal at Endeavour Partners where he led a great deal of work and research on wearable technology. He has advised numerous startups, larger service providers, and OEMs on product definition, service design, ecosystem strategy, and go- to-market planning within this space. Dan has appeared on NPR, Bloomberg and CNN talking about the future of wearable technology. His research in wearable technology has been covered by GigaOm, The Guardian, Fast Company, Fortune, Forbes, TechRepublic, and CBS. Dan has multiple engineering degrees from Washington University in St. Louis and a Masters degree from MIT.
Beth is Dragon Innovation's COO. She is responsible for both business growth as well as serving as account executive, working closely with Dragon customers such as Zuli, Jibo, Insensi, and many more. In addition, Beth oversees Dragon's content, communications, social media, and public relations.
Formerly a VP of Marketing for Live Nation, Beth led the marketing and promotion for thousands of live events over the course of a decade, including launching the first ever concert at Fenway Park.
Outside of work, Beth is passionate about exercise, including running and yoga, cooking, being outside - especially if it involves the beach or the woods - and most importantly, time spent with her daughter, husband, and furry best (dog) friend, Kirby.
Beth holds a Bachelor's degree from Cornell University.
Tom Martin is a professor in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech, where he is the co-director of the Virginia Tech E-textiles Lab. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati.
His current research includes electronic textiles, location-based applications, and interdisciplinary design teams for pervasive computing. Martin is vice-chair of the IEEE Technical Committee for Wearable Information Systems and has published more than 50 refereed technical articles. In 2006 he was invited to the White House to receive the NSF Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers for his research in e-textile-based wearable computing.
Asta Roseway is a Research Designer at Microsoft Research in Human Computer Interaction. She is a self-proclaimed “Fusionist” who applies cross disciplinary practices through Design to bridge fields together to create the next wave of technologies and user experiences. Her group collaborations include explorations around next generation skin interfaces, as well as translating plant signals into human language to bridge plants and humans closer together. Her work has been showcased at events such as CES, ARS Electronica, SXSW, and NY Fashion Week. Additionally, she is a co-founder of studio99, a Microsoft Research effort to bridge Art and Technology practices closer via an Artist in Residence program and Exhibitions. She is a Parsons School of Design alumni.
John Vaskis is the Vice President of Sales and Outreach at Indiegogo, a platform dedicated to bringing innovations to market. He leads Indiegogo's work in building partnerships empowering entrepreneurs, makers and companies. Prior to joining Indiegogo, he spent four years leading Oberon Media’s digital distribution network, bringing content to sites including MSN, Yahoo, AT&T, EA and AOL. John holds a B.S. in communications from the State University of New York Albany.
Dr. Wilson is a materials scientist with fifteen years of industrial research experience in the development, characterization and application of materials in complicated systems. Previous to founding Fabric Works in 2005, Dr. Wilson was Principal Scientist in the Electronic & Biomedical Materials & Systems Division of Foster-Miller, Inc. Dr. Wilson had a broad range of experience at Foster-Miller, often serving as the technology integrator on multidisciplinary programs. A common theme among the programs she managed at Foster-Miller are those that combine materials science and optical or electro-optic devices in wearable systems such as physiological monitoring systems, short range communication harnesses, and on-the-body devices.
Between 1998 and 2005 she was the lead technologist developing a business area in electronic textiles. Her past and present work investigates how to use common conductive textile materials and techniques to build integrated networks, antenna systems and higher-level input-output devices. Through numerous military and commercial product launches she has become known as a leader in this emerging field. Most recently she edited the first technical book on electronic textiles and is served as a technical advisor to an exhibit entitled “Extreme Textiles: Designing for Performance” which debuted at the Smithsonian in April of 2005. Dr. Wilson received her Ph.D. and M.S. in materials science and engineering from the University of Michigan and her B.S. in materials science and engineering from M.I.T.
§ Technical Leader for Soldier System IPT for the Objective Force Warrior Program, Phase I, Eagle Team (September 2002 - May 2003). Coordinated technology integration of over 50 people across 14 organizations in 16 disciplines, resulting in the award of $100 million Phase II contract to Eagle Team. Team conceptualized and produced prototypes of new soldier combat uniform – 4 prototypes produced in 8 months. Final ensemble design won Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) 2003 International Award for Excellence.
§ Developed and grew Electronic Textiles Team from initial contract to team with over $5 million in R&D contracts.
§ Technical lead on entire development phase of Malden Heat Blanket, the first E-textile consumer product to market. Product concept to market took 22 months.
§ Participated on team to develop Northface MET5 Jacket for Malden Mills.
§ Principal Investigator, Narrow Fabric Cable Development. Conceptualized and prototyped narrow fabric USB cables, leading to $3 million in additional government programs, a patent, and the invitation to participate in the Objective Force Warrior program.
§ Principal Investigator, Body-Borne Textile Antenna Development. Led collaboration of Foster-Miller team with BAE Systems antenna specialists.
• A Phase I and Phase II SBIR effort to develop a Integrated Tactile Transduction Garment for In-Flight Spatial Orientation which incorporates wearable sensors.
• The design and manufacture of an ergonomic wearable computer vest for a commercial company for use by the U.S. Post Office.
• Serving as the product development team for Malden Mills to develop high-value added products for commercial introduction in both the home good and sportswear market.
Previous to focusing on wearable systems, Dr. Wilson served as a technology incubator in the Emerging Technologies branch at Foster-Miller. There she was responsible for identifying new fields of nanotechologies and how they could be applied to solve problems in the military, commercial product, and medical fields. She was instrumental in bringing in and building the current areas in nanotubes, nanoclays, self-assembled polymeric coatings, and dendrimers.
Dr. Wilson was the lead materials scientist within Foster-Miller on photopolymer/liquid-crystal composites for holographic recording. She has also been involved at Foster-Miller with both management and technical effort for development of bio-engineered molecularly oriented optical devices (using bacteriorhodopsin), for development of electroluminescent polymeric materials for electronic displays, and for improved transparency materials for barrier packaging of electronic displays.
Dr. Wilson formed Fabric Works in 2005 with an interest in applying her knowledge of wearable systems to commercial product design. Since founding Fabric Works, she has built a stable of clients in the medical and commercial products industries.