WELCOME TO THE DC CHAPTER OF THE GLOBAL ASSOCIATION FOR VR AND AR
VR/AR Association (VRARA) is the global industry association for VR and AR, connecting major industries with the best of the best in the fields of AR/VR. The Washington DC chapter of VRARA aims to harness the DMV’s unique power and influence to propagate these technologies across all industries, promote the best use cases and progress our community’s awareness and connectivity within the VR/AR industry. VRARA Washington DC connects the DMV to the top global organization for thought leadership and industry access in this immersive and rapidly developing space.
UPCOMING EVENTS
MEET THE TEAM
Chapter President: Dan McConnell
Dan McConnell is Chief Technologist at Booz Allen Hamilton and leader of the spatial computing capability within the firm’s Bright Labs emerging technology incubator in the office of the CTO. Launched in 2022, Bright Labs is an experimentation organization designed to develop, test, and incubate mission-centric solutions rooted in emerging technology.
Dan also serves as Chapter President, VR/AR Association Washington DC and Co-Chair of the VR/AR Association Industrial Metaverse and Digital Twin Committee.
Previously, Dan was a strategy consultant at The Cohen Group, providing corporate leadership with strategic advice on business development, market entry, regulatory affairs, and deal sourcing. He also spent nearly a decade in uniform in the US Army.
Dan holds a bachelor’s degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point and graduate degrees in public policy and technology from Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the University of Virginia McIntire School of Commerce.
Executive Producer: Trista Pierce
Trista Pierce, Business Development Lead at Niantic, combines her expertise in emerging technologies with a focus on crafting strategic partnerships and deploying spatial computing solutions across enterprise verticals.
Trista has been immersed in the XR industry since 2020, initially as a Senior Digital Strategist at Booz Allen Hamilton, where she specialized in spatial computing and digital transformation for public sector clients. In this role, she aligned XR, 5G, IoT, and Digital Twin technologies to deliver optimized, data-driven solutions that supported mission-critical objectives.
Now at Niantic, Trista leverages her extensive experience to identify impactful use cases, drive revenue, and transform how businesses adopt and integrate Niantic's Spatial Platform. Her foundational technical skills, developed as a US Navy Nuclear Reactor Operator, and her MISM degree from Carnegie Mellon University with a focus on Data Analytics, position her as a leader in bridging cutting-edge technologies with practical enterprise solutions.
Join Tyler Gates and Sophia Moshasha in the Everything VR & AR weekly podcast, hosted by the VR/AR Association, as they talk with technologists, enthusiasts, and companies with real-world deployments of immersive technology. Learn from leaders in gaming, entertainment, enterprise, education, military and government, healthcare, software, hardware, and more!
The podcast is recorded at Brightline Interactive in Ashburn, Virginia. It is engineered and produced by Ryan Scott and Vicki Sweet is the Head of Operations & Guest Coordination.
NETWORK
Connect and build strong relationships with key players in the VR/AR ecosystem through VRARA or partner-hosted events.
COLLABORATE
Work with innovators in the VR/AR ecosystem across all verticals, from original content creators to innovative hardware companies.
RESEARCH
Gain unlimited, exclusive access to VRARA research and publications, or, when applicable, receive discounts to third-party reports.
