Leaders in Technology, Analytics, Defense, Education, and Business Development
to Provide Strategy and Guidance
Chapel Hill, NC (December 12, 2022) – Ultisim, a company that integrates hardware and software to build fully immersive 3D simulation and Digital Twin experiences to solve real-world problems, has announced its advisory board – composed of leaders in technology, analytics, defense, education, and business development.
Ultisim was founded by executives from the computer gaming industry and Lockheed Martin with expertise in leading-edge gaming technology, simulation, and artificial intelligence. It is dedicated to moving industries from two-dimensional, static data to interactive, three-dimensional, real-time data visualization, analytics, digital twins, and simulation learning.
“I couldn’t be more pleased to have an advisory board stocked with such talented and innovative professionals,” said Richard Boyd, founder of Ultisim. “Their successful track records, thought leadership, and sterling, diverse backgrounds will elevate Ultisim to the next level of achievement.”
The advisory board is:
Kevin Clark, President and Federation Leader, Content Evolution
Clark is an award-winning brand and business strategist, author, designer of brand and customer engagement systems, and catalyst for purposeful change. He advises leaders on the wants and needs of customers at the intersection of emerging social and technology trends – and uses design thinking to make organizations more accessible to stakeholders and easier to use for customers.
Clark is a co-creator of the IBM client experience design program and global community, co-creator of the IBM Business Partner program, leader of the ThinkNext and Innovation Discovery processes, and served on the IBM Steering Committee for the MIT Media Lab.
Dr. Frank DiGiovanni, Director, Data Analytics and Agile Technology Transfer and Transition, Parallax Advanced Research
DiGiovanni has 41 years of government service and 26 years as a U.S. Air Force officer. DiGiovanni also held several commands, director, and staff positions across the Air Force related to training policy, advanced training technologies, and sustaining the military’s access to land, sea, and air training resources.
He has served three operational deployments, with the last in Pakistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan). DiGiovanni is a member of the Department of Defense (DoD) and Navy Senior Executive Service, serving in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for 11 years as the deputy director, where he was responsible for the programming and execution of the $900 million the DoD invests in worldwide joint training and training technologies.
Jeff Frazier, Vice President and Head of Global Public Sector, Snowflake
Frazier is a respected Board of Director/Advisor leader and international business executive with an extensive background in international business, sales and marketing, innovation, M&A, and distinguished public service. Frazier served as managing director of IBSG Global Public Sector, Cisco’s corporate strategic consulting arm to Global Fortune 500 companies and public organizations on organizational change, technology innovation, policy, and strategy.
He advises chief executives and global government leaders on innovation and strategy related to market development, market impact, investment, public policy influence, and technology. He is a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.
Ken Lane, Chief Technology Officer, Tanjo, Inc.
Lane has built some of the most advanced 3D training, simulation, and visualization software currently used by the U.S. military. He has one patent pending and one in process, and he was awarded the Lockheed Martin Galaxy award for Technologist of the Year in 2009.
He has over 28 years of experience in computer software, simulation, and hardware integration. He worked as director of development with Boyd at 3Dsolve and later as chief technologist for Virtual World Labs at Lockheed Martin. He has extensive skills in platform-scale coding of 3D engines for games, training, and simulation and has expertise in user interface design that communicates complex information effectively.
Annie Patenaude, Managing Director, AMP Analytics
Patenaude is a mathematician and retired Army Field Artillery Officer. After her initial Army operational assignments, Annie taught Mathematics at West Point and served in Operations Research positions in the Pentagon. She has subject matter expertise in Modeling and Simulation Policy, Test and Evaluation, Training Assessments, Operations Research Analysis, and Strategic Planning. Annie is a fellow of the Society in the Military Operations Research Society. She also serves as the operations director for the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference.
She is the former director of the Joint Assessment and Enabling Capability in the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Readiness), one of the three facets of Training Transformation. Working with leaders in the Joint Forces Command and the Military Services, Patenaude designed and implemented a joint training analysis framework, developing metrics and feedback mechanisms toward increasing joint training effectiveness and efficiency.
Marc Prensky, Speaker, and Author
The creator of the terms “digital native” and “digital immigrant,” which he described in a 2001 article in “On the Horizon,” Marc is a sought-after speaker and author of seven books and 100 essays on learning and education. Following an esteemed career in education, Prensky has excelled as a corporate strategist and product development director with the Boston Consulting Group and spent six years with Bankers Trust on Wall Street, where he created game-based training for financial traders.
Prensky holds degrees from Oberlin College, Middlebury College, Yale University, and Harvard Business School.
Bryan Setser, Founder and CEO, Setser Group
Setser has been a leader of solutions practices as a partner and principal at 2Revolutions and rpk GROUP, working with multiple K-12, higher education, and workforce clients in more than 30 states and six countries. He is a sought-after advisor, strategist, and execution expert for organizations designing and building the future of learning and work.
The long-time K-12 practitioner served as a teacher, principal, and the nation’s first chief quality officer at the Baldrige Award-winning Iredell-Statesville (North Carolina) school district in North Carolina. Setser also led significant digital transformation efforts as CEO of the North Carolina Virtual School, the second largest in the U.S.
David Smith, Founder, and CTO, of Croquet
Smith is a computer scientist and entrepreneur who has focused on interactive 3D and using 3D as a basis for new user environments and entertainment for over 30 years. His specialty is system design and advanced user interfaces. He is a pioneer in 3D graphics, robotics, telepresence, artificial intelligence, and augmented reality (AR). He creates world-class teams and ships impossible products.
Smith was chief innovation officer and Lockheed Martin Senior Fellow at Lockheed Martin MST, where he was focused on next-generation human-centric computing and collaboration platforms. Before joining Lockheed Martin, Smith was a co-founder of 3Dsolve with Boyd and the chief architect of the Croquet Project. He worked with Alan Kay (Turing Award winner) on this open-source virtual world collaboration platform. He was later CTO and co-founder of Teleplace, Inc., providing a collaboration platform developed specifically for enterprises based on Croquet.
“We believe this will be The Simulation Century, and Ultisim’s advisory board is proof of the ballast we need to make it a reality,” said Boyd.
About Ultisim
Ultisim was formed to combine a unique combination of leading-edge gaming technology, simulation, and artificial intelligence expertise. Based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the Company was founded by executives from Lockheed Martin and IBM with deep backgrounds in computer gaming, integrating hardware and software to build fully immersive 3D simulation experiences that solve real-world problems. Ultisim will move the industry from two-dimensional, static data to interactive, three-dimensional, real-time data visualization, analytics, and simulation learning. This will create opportunities for new types of business collaboration empowered by augmented and virtual reality. Visit www.ultisim.com
Paulina Trzcinska