Company Overview
The Virtual Heroes Division of Applied Research Associates creates collaborative interactive learning solutions for the healthcare, federal systems and corporate training markets. Advanced Learning Technologies (ALT) leverage simulation learning and digital games-based learning paradigms to accelerate learning, increase user proficiency and reduce training costs.
Management Team
 Jerry Heneghan CEO, Virtual Heroes Inc.
Jerry Heneghan is the Managing Director of the Virtual Heroes Division of Applied Research Associates. Most recently, Jerry served as an Executive Producer for the America’s Army Game Project (www.americasarmy.com) focusing on the creation of training applications based on the game. Prior to starting Virtual Heroes, Jerry was a Program Manager in the Technology Assisted Learning Division of the Research Triangle Institute (RTI). Before his work at RTI, Jerry was a Game Producer at Tom Clancy’s Red Storm Entertainment. Prior to work in the interactive entertainment industry, Jerry served as a U.S. Army Aviator (AH-64 pilot) in assignments all over the world. Jerry holds an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, and a BS in Engineering from the U.S. Military Academy. He is a published author, most recently appearing in The Design and Use of Simulation Computer Games in Education.
 Randy Brown CTO, Virtual Heroes Inc.
Mr. Randy Brown is the Chief Technology Officer for Virtual Heroes. Randy has an MS in Computer Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a BS in Computer Science from Oklahoma State University. Prior to joining Virtual Heroes, he developed interactive 3D graphics software at Amoco, Digital Equipment, Ex Machina, Data General, SAS Institute, Southpeak Interactive, and the Research Triangle Institute of North Carolina. Randy also directed scientific, oil exploration, graphics library, visualization, training, education, simulation, and gaming content for a wide range of commercial, government, and private organizations.
 Bob Pickens, CFO, Virtual Heroes Inc.
Mr. Bob Pickens is the CFO of Virtual Heroes and brings years of success and experience in the small, emerging growth business world. Bob has been a CEO, COO, or CFO of companies for the past 21 years, having taken them from start-up to IPO, from first venture funding to sale at premium value, from emerging growth stage to sale, to Fortune 250 company. Bob has international experience from having been North American CEO of a publicly traded German company and from starting and operating international divisions of US parents. Most experience has been with companies in technology sectors which include online deliverables. He has orchestrated raising over $100 million through venture capital, debt financings, strategic partner investments, IPO’s and sale of companies. Prior to beginning his entrepreneurial pursuits, Bob spent 17 years with Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation in increasingly responsible operations, marketing, and sales assignments. He has served on the Board of Directors of Red Storm Entertainment (Tom Clancy’s video games company) prior to its sale to Ubisoft, DataFlux, prior to its sale to SAS; and Interactive Magic prior to its IPO. Currently, Bob serves as part time CFO of First Research, a Raleigh-based company recently sold to Dun and Bradstreet (with his extensive involvement). He is a graduate of Davidson College with a B.A. in psychology and has done extensive MBA and MS in Applied Behavioral Science work at Johns Hopkins University, along with several other institutions.
 Joe Halper, Director of Production
Mr. Joe Halper is the Director of Production for Virtual Heroes. A ten year veteran of the Games Industry, Joe co-founded and guided Kaos Studios as its Senior Producer from 2005-08. He likewise possesses production tenure at both Digital Illusions and Trauma Studios, a member of the original 'Desert Combat' team with the latter. At Virtual Heroes, Joe provides studio-wide leadership on “Serious Games” and entertainment products across multiple platforms. His responsibilities include management of all studio projects to schedule, budget and quality standards from initial design through code release. In addition, Joe is responsible for cultivating a harmonious and cohesive team. Joe inspires cooperation, confidence and respect of others, and promotes the "common purpose" of the team. This position reports to the CEO of the Company and directly manages all Producers, Project Managers, Art Director, Technical Director and Lead Game Designer. Joe Halper holds a B.A., Graphic Design and Computer Studies, from the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.
 Christine Heneghan, Human Resources Manager
Christine Heneghan co-founded Virtual Heroes in 2004. She serves as the Virtual Heroes Human Resource and Office Manager. She also serves as our Ambassador by facilitating outreach to numerous educational institutions and corporations. Christine began her tenure in the game industry as a spokesperson for Nintendo from 1993-1998. She also held positions in Quality Assurance and Media Relations for Interactive Magic. In addition to her work in interactive entertainment, Christine is a professional actress (AEA, SAG, AFTRA) and instructor (Northwestern University, the University of Illinois and Prairie State College) with 25 years experience in Theatre, Voice Acting, Television and Film. She currently teaches at the North Carolina Theatre Conservatory and serves as an adjudicator for the North Carolina Theatre Capital Awards (recognizing excellence in Musical Theatre within the State’s High Schools). Christine earned a B.F.A. from Syracuse University and an M.F.A. from the University of Illinois.
Corporate Advisory Board
Bryan Bergeron, MD currently maintains staff positions at Mass General Hospital and the HST (Health Sciences and Technology) division of Harvard Medical School and MIT, where he teaches medicine, technology and business. Bryan is the author of 21 books and creator of 25+ software programs including his most recent publication “Developing Serious Games” (Charles River Media). He directed the development of a dozen serious games supporting the curriculum at Harvard Medical School and MIT. Bryan is the former Chief Scientist to the Medical Learning Company (1999-2003). He also served as the former Acting Chief Scientist of Kurzweil Technologies (1998-1999). He is an avid marathoner and was co-developer on four U.S. patents.
www.ArchetypeTech.com
N. Ty Smith, MD attended Harvard College and Medical School, with a subsequent internship at Boston Children’s Hospital and residency in anesthesia at the
Massachusetts General Hospital. After two years in the Navy, he spent nine years on the faculty of Stanford University and twenty-four at the University of California, San Diego. During the 45 years of his professional life, he spent much of his time with a computer. His work has included cardiovascular physiology and pharmacology, EEG analysis and display, closed-loop control, drug interactions, physiologic and pharmacologic mathematical modeling, simulation, noninvasive monitoring, the human pharmacology of inhaled anesthetic agents, and automated record keeping, including voice recognition. He was fortunate in that his lab developed the first microcomputer in medicine (1973). He was a founding Editor of the Journal of Clinical Monitoring, the founding President of the Society for Technology in Anesthesia, and has served on and helped put together many meetings. As founding Chair of the American Society of Anesthesiologists Committee on Electronic Media and Information Technology, he helped bring the ASA into the electronic world. His current work includes mathematical modeling and simulation of physiology and pharmacology. During his prolific career, he has authored over 400 publications.
Scot Wingo is Co-Founder, President and CEO of ChannelAdvisor (www.channeladvisor.com). Channel Advisor provides retailers and manufacturers with the software and services needed to successfully sell their products via online sales channels. Prior to launching ChannelAdvisor, Scot played a role as the General Manager of GoTo Auctions, CEO and co-founder of AuctionRover.com (acquired by GoTo.com) and CEO and co-founder of Stingray Software (acquired by RogueWave). Scot received a Bachelor of Computer Science degree from the University of South Carolina and Masters in Computer Science degree from North Carolina State University. Scot has received numerous awards including Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year and Triangle Business Journal’s 40 under 40.
Michael Zyda is director of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering’s GamePipe Laboratory, located at the Information Sciences Institute, Marina del Rey, California. His research interests include computer graphics; large-scale, networked 3D virtual environments; modeling human and organizational behavior; interactive computer generated story, modeling and simulation; and interactive games. Zyda holds a lifetime appointment as a National Associate of the National Academies. He received a DSc in computer science from Washington University, St. Louis.
http://gamepipe.usc.edu
Grace W. Ueng, Founder and President of Savvy Marketing Group held executive roles at five venture backed startups that yielded investors over $1 billion. This included OpenSite Technologies which was sold to Siebel Systems where she held the role of senior director, product marketing. Her 20 years of work experience spans from consulting for global strategic management consultancy, Bain & Company, to working inside Fortune 500 brand leaders Coca-Cola, IBM, Time Warner, General Mills and Clorox, to contributing to five successful consumer and enterprise software startups that had successful exits through IPO or acquisition. Grace earned her undergraduate degree in management science from MIT and her MBA from Harvard BusinessSchool. http://www.savvymarketinggroup.com
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