Arka Bala is a big data engineer by trade and believes data can solve a lot of the world’s big problems. ContextGrid’s core idea has always been about contextual data about things in the physical world and Arka’s love of data seemed to be a perfect match. Arka has also been very involved with the AR community and particularly in the formation of the Open AR Cloud. Arka is one of the Founding Governing Board Members of OpenARCloud.org that is setting standards for the open spatial web similar to W3C / ICANN. Arka and team are collaborating daily with members of the OpenARCloud which includes AR leaders from the likes of Microsoft, Deutsche Telecom and Open Geo Spatial Consortium which keeps Arka in the forefront of all new AR technologies.

John Kwak studied economics at the University of Maryland, received certifications for Business Data Analytics and Entrepreneurship from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, and is currently completing his MBA at the Wharton school. He held a 13 year career at Nordstrom serving in various roles including sales, floor management, Designer Shoe Buyer / Merchandise Manager for the East Coast, and rounded his career out as a senior level executive supporting stores in the NE region. Most recently John was Senior Vice President for Bloomingdales of the Northern California trade area. John’s experience in different regions throughout the country along with the diversity in roles he’s held gives him a unique understanding of how to develop successful teams, partnerships, strategy, infrastructure, and most importantly providing excellent service to the consumer. John also has the experience of being a part of and overseeing 5 new store openings in brand new markets. This skill set will prove to be most important as ContextGrid grows.