VGS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Marketing
Chris Williams is Vice President of Marketing. Mr. Williams is a Ridgeway native who grew up on Racetrack Road doing just about every job imaginable at Martinsville Speedway, from putting onions on the hot dogs at the concession stand to putting seats down before they built bleachers. Williams basically grew up at Martinsville Speedway, where his dad was the general manager working in food and beverage. The story of Williams' time in NASCAR begins in earnest when he was in high school at Drewry Mason in 1982. After needing an emergency appendectomy, he was forced to stay out of school for three days. But instead of simply sitting at home, he went down to the racetrack, where, it just so happened, Dale Earnhardt was practicing. Dale noticed me being out of school and said, ‘hey man, what are you doing?' why aren't you in school?... and I told him and he said, ‘well I guess you're going to start hanging out with me.' Williams began working for Earnhardt a few years later, and when they weren't working together, they would often go on hunting expeditions around the world. Their friendship came from a shared competitive nature, whether that was on the track, in a tree stand, or in the world of licensing and merchandise. Williams hung with Earnhardt not just that day, but for more than two decades after. The two built a friendship that lasted until Earnhardt's death in 2001. The friendship also started Williams' career in the NASCAR industry. Chris worked in the licensing business with Fanatics in various roles including Senior VP Trackside and VP Retail Special Events. While there, he led merchandise and retail operations for Fanatics live sporting events such as the SEC and ACC Basketball tournaments, Kentucky Derby, MLB Allstar etc. as well as Nascar events, that included logistics, retail operations, product build and inventory, event branding, revenue share, labor planning, team and league relationships.
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Experience Design
Garreth Blackwell, PhD, is Vice President of Experience Design. Garreth has been a designer and educator for over 15 years working with clients across four continents. Coming from a family of educators and creative practitioners, he believes that teaching and professional practice are two sides of the same coin: as long as you never stop making, you will never stop learning or teaching. As a graphic designer and art director Blackwell has developed internal marketing collateral for companies like S&P Global and has led design thinking workshops with IDEO and IBM. As an educator, Blackwell has taught classes in creative practice and business for artists and has consulted with universities on how to innovate creative practice curriculum for a changing marketplace. He is the author of two books including the forthcoming Growth: A Manual for Professional Creative Practice, a field guide for creative business practice. Blackwell is currently an assistant professor at top-ranked VCU arts and most recently was the VP of Experience Delivery for Vytal Studios, a technology experience studio working across education and virtual reality.
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Strategy
Matt Woolman is Vice President of Strategy. He has over 20 years of experience as a designer, educator, author, publisher, entrepreneur with as ability to operate at the intersection of technology, business, users, and design. Matt specializes in the influences of information and communication technologies on the evolution of language and learning; and human-centered design principles on the development of products and systems. He has authored and co-authored ten books, including the internationally best-selling Type in Motion: Innovations in Digital Graphics. Matt's other books address such defining topics as motion design, music and the visual arts, and information visualization. Matt's writings and projects have been published internationally in design journals and books, exhibited internationally, included in private collections, and have received awards from PRINT Magazine, AIGA and Art Directors Club. Currently, Matt serves as Executive Director of the Center for the Creative Economy in the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts. He is tenured at the rank of professor in the Department of Graphic Design, where he served as department chair for six years. Under his leadership, the MFA program in Design/Visual Communication attained and held the #4 specialty ranking in US News & World Report. Matt also has served in inaugural leadership roles through the years, including Director of Creative Entrepreneurship, and Director of the MFA program in Design Studies, on the VCU campus in Doha, Qatar, and most recently Interim Associate Dean for Research, Innovation and Graduate Studies on the Richmond campus. Matt established the Center for the Creative Economy, which offers a portfolio of experiential learning and research programs, including partnerships with In Your Ear Recording Studios, VA Department of Juvenile Justice, Capital One, Bank of America, and other organizations. His innovation programs generate over $400,000 in funds for the School of the Arts, from research grants and academic and industry partnerships.
Job Titles:
- Creative Technologist
- Vice President of Research & Development
Phat Nguyen is Vice President of Research & Development - Talent & Technology. Phat is a creative technologist who spans his creativity and knowledge of emerging technology for services, solutions, and visualizations. His focus on technology includes 3d visualization process, 3D printing, and the XR space. He has contributed to various creative projects spanning numerous industries, coming from an arts and design background. These industries include healthcare, construction, museums, robotics, and education. Phat Nguyen has a passion for the arts and shares his experiences through mentoring and teaching to all levels of learners and creatives.
Zacharia Ali - CEO, Chairman, Founder
Mr. Ali is Founder and CEO of Virtual Global Sports, Founder and Chairman of ZAR Capital Group - a family office and investment holding company, Carthage Solutions - Carthage Solutions provides sovereign governments with a single, trusted source from which to procure security and defense products, solutions, and services as well as CBD Switch Holding Corp - a vertically integrated company focused on CBD nutraceuticals, wellness centers and manufacturing facilities that utilize proprietary strains of CBD:THC distributed via retail and wholesale channels enabling the firm to control cannabis products from the genetic strains to end users.
Growing up, Mr. Ali aspired to be an Aeronautical Engineer as he was an avid drawer and admirer of airplane and car design. From birth it seemed as though a pencil or paintbrush was always in his hand. Upon attending college, he decided to switch gears and pursue International business and use his creative thought and engineering mindset to apply to business development and strategy. The business journey has taken Mr. Ali to many places and has afforded him the opportunity to do business in the Middle East, Asia, Europe, Central & South America, The Caribbean and Africa.
Mr. Ali also created an entertainment company, ZAR Entertainment, which allowed him to continue his creative abilities by producing documentaries, publishing books, and creating comic books under AHR Visions. He also ventured into NASCAR for a couple years and partnered with an industry veteran to create Zar D'Hondt Motorsports.
Pulling on his international relationships, creative mindset and business savvy lead him to this current venture of founding Virtual Global Sports. Mr. Ali has come full circle of bringing his childhood ambition of creativity and engineering to bring cutting edge simulators and virtual hardware to the masses.
Mr. Ali has double BS Degrees in International Business and Marketing and serves as Chairman, Director and Advisor on numerous boards.