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On Wednesday, March 23, 2022, the Center for Retail Transformation at George Mason University's School of Business hosted a panel on Retail in the Metaverse, sponsored by Microsoft. Part of the Center's Transforming Retail series, the panel features experts who engaged in conversations on what the metaverse is (and is not), the technologies underlying the metaverse, leading companies in this space, and opportunities and pitfalls that retailers should watch for as they foray into the metaverse.
The panel of experts included:
- Alan Smithson, Co-Founder, MetaVRse, Inc, a low-code platform that makes it easy to create & share interactive 3D experiences instantly on the web and parent company of THE MALL, one of the first malls in the metaverse.
- Casey Golden, CEO, Luxlock, an experience platform that merges digital and physical shopping experiences. Casey is regarded as one of the women taking charge of web 3.0 by Forbes by bridging the commerce gap to operationalize a shoppable metaverse.
- Lisa Griego, Director, Retail & Consumer Goods, Microsoft. Lisa is the leader in Microsoft's Grocery & Consumer Goods vertical with over 20 years’ experience in retail including 16 years at P&G.
- Winston Ma, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of CloudTree Ventures, Author of The Hunt for Unicorns and The Digital War, board Chairman of Nasdaq-listed MCAA, a European tech SPAC, and 2013 Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum (WEF).
The session was co-moderated by Michael Zakkour, leading retail futurist, and Founder & CEO of 5 New Digital, a digital commerce, retail, and consumer journey consultancy and ecosystem company.