Entertainment industry veteran Ian Richter and former Disney Imagineer Joe Garlington have joined virtual reality pioneer SPACES as members of its advisory board. The Los Angeles company brings VR and MR to theme parks and attractions and is looking to leverage Garlington and Richter’s knowledge and experience in theme-park and attractions design, as well as intellectual-property development.
Work History
Richter spent more than seven years at DreamWorks Animation as Head Of Creative Franchise Development and Franchise Executive Producer. He has been involved with such major entertainment projects as Kong: Skull Island, Trolls, How to Train Your Dragon and The Spectacular Spider-Man. Richter joins other Dreamworks alumni, CEO Shiraz Akmal and CTO Brad Herman, at SPACES.
Garlington was the VP and Executive Creative Director of Walt Disney Imagineering’s interactive group, where he led the development of attractions and experiences for DisneyQuest, such as Toy Story Mania, Turtle Talk With Crush, the recently refurbished Test Track and Epcot’s signature Spaceship Earth.
The Incredibles
“Achieving our incredible vision requires an incredible team of advisers, so we could not be happier to welcome Ian and Joe to our team,” said Akmal. “Ian’s remarkable ability to blend world-class entertainment with emerging technologies, and Joe’s rich history with the most legendary name in theme park design, will be extraordinary assets to SPACES.”
The company was founded mid-2016 with $3m funding and received a further $6.5 investment this January. It seems there are still spaces at the table – pun intended - as Akmal’s LinkedIn profile currently says they’re hiring...
