Cory Ondrejka

As co-founder and CTO of Linden Lab, Cory Ondrejka has long been an evangelist for the power of virtual worlds. A relentless innovator, he led the team that collaborated in unprecedented ways to solve impossible problems—taking the power of the virtual world to an extreme by co-opting the real and the virtual. His creation, Second Life, is not a game, but a tool set to build a virtual world, populated by "residents" who can then build whatever they want. Second Life shows just how powerful virtual words can be – it has transformed the way millions of people think about community, collaboration and entrepreneurship.

People from around the globe are discovering worlds where the only limit is human creativity. People, ideas and cultures are interacting in ways never before possible. Ondrejka conveys the excitement about this new frontier where entrepreneurs are already exploring ways to generate real-world profits. These digital worlds face important decisions around whether, and how, to embrace these business activities. Companies are using a virtual presence to test new products, and these virtual-world technologies provide a platform for learning, innovation and competition whose potential is just being imagined.

In life after Linden Lab and Second Life, Ondrejka was a visiting professor at University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communication. From there, Ondrejka spent 18 months driving digital strategy and cultural change at EMI Music, first as Senior Vice President for Digital Strategy, then as Executive Vice President Global Digital Marketing. Through a focus on consumer insight, technology awareness, and internal collaboration, EMI saved millions of dollars and enabled its artists to share the music experience with fans in new and innovative ways.