Metaiye Media CEO appointed to NYU Metaverse Collaborative Advisory Board
New York October 20th 2022. Dele Atanda, CEO of metaMe and Metaiye Media, has been appointed to NYU’s Metaverse Collaborative Advisory Board, a newly-formed ten-member group that will help steer NYU’s School of Professional Studies as it collaborates with industry partners to prepare for the transformative effect of the rapidly-developing virtual world.
Earlier this year, the NYU School of Professional Studies (NYU SPS) established the Metaverse Collaborative at NYU SPS, a cross-industry initiative designed to prepare students and industry partners to succeed in the metaverse amid the continued convergence of the physical, digital, and virtual worlds into our future work and personal lives. The mission of the NYU SPS Metaverse Collaborative Advisory Board is to help prioritize the initiative’s direction and resources and to build strong industry relationships. The school held it’s first metaVerse Bootcamp last week.
“NYU has catapulted itself to the forefront of professional preparation for shaping the space and it is an honor to join this visionary and progressive collaborative at the forefront of the emerging metaVerse industry,” said Dele Atanda. “The metaVerse and its related web3 technologies are shaping up to become the most consequential technologies of our time, impacting our lives and society in profound ways. It has become clear that privacy, data sovereignty and digital human rights are essential in guiding these technologies to delivering positive social outcomes and avoiding unintended consequences and errors made in previous iterations of the internet. It is essential that we equip the next generation with the right tools, arguments and narratives to shape these technologies in a human centered and human protecting manner,” Atanda continued.
Atanda delivered an identity masterclass on the first day of the Collaborative’s metaverse Bootcamp for which he received a standing ovation from students with many saying it was one of the most important sessions for them. Bootcamp attendees were required to read the pilot episodes of Metaiye Media’s metaKnyts saga as pre reading material in preparation for the bootcamp. Graduates are also being provided with metaKnyts KnytCard NFTs which will induct them into metaKnyts’ Order of Metaiye and a metaKnyts NYU metaVerse club giving them access to further learning materials and other benefits. Additionally graduates will be provided with a metaMe digital wallet and a .metaKnyts top level domain name which can serve as a self sovereign decentralized ID for them to use in the metaVerse. The metaMe wallet will also enable them to receive their graduation certificates as Verifiable Credentials which they can share with employers for work in the future.
In announcing the board, NYU’s School of Professional Studies said the advisory panel would help NYU develop strategic alliances and partnerships that benefit industry partners and the NYU community. “We want to make ensure that graduates from NYU are well informed and equipped to enter this new digital landscape with the best tools information and inspiration to go out and build the future they want to be a part of. We are proud to be a part of such an important task and excited by what we can achieve together with the school and its partners through this collaborative, added Atanda.
The NYU Metaverse Advisory Board will be chaired by the School of Professional Studies Dean Angie Kamath. The NYU Metaverse Collaborative Advisory Board includes:
- Dele Atanda, founder and chief executive officer, metaMe and Metaiye Media
- Marc Beckman, chief executive officer, DMA United, senior fellow NYU Metaverse, and best-selling author The Comprehensive Guide: NFTs, Digital Artwork, Blockchain Technology
- Rustom Dastoor, EVP Marketing Mastercard
- Dale Imerman, global director of metaverse partnerships, WPP
- Charlie Isaacs, chief technology officer, customer connection, Salesforce.com
- Joanne Sheppard, senior vice president, strategy and investment, Holtzbrinck
- Mandeep Singh, senior research analyst, Bloomberg
- Clay Shirky, vice provost, educational technology, NYU
“The metaverse is already transforming how companies brand and market themselves and how they interact with and reach new customers. Our students need to be prepared for how to navigate and succeed in this emerging field,” said Kamath. “The real-world expertise of the Metaverse Collaborative Advisory Board, paired with the NYU SPS team of thinkers and doers, innovators, and researchers, will be a value-add in exploring this new phenomenon and its implications for teaching and learning within the NYU community, the industries we serve, and society as a whole. It will help us step into the future with clarity.”
