Brian "Bam" McClendon is the Chief Technology Officer at Niantic Spatial, where he leads the engineering development of the company’s groundbreaking Large Geospatial Model. Building on a legacy of innovation in mapping technologies, Brian is developing a new generation of geospatial maps to transform the way we understand and interact with the physical world.

He previously served as Senior Vice President of Engineering at Niantic Labs, where he brought AR to life in popular mobile games like Pokémon GO. Brian brings nearly four decades of experience in computer graphics, mapping, computer vision and machine learning, and has made significant contributions to geospatial technology with 40 patents to his name. He began his career at Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI), where he helped build 3D graphics supercomputers. In 2001, he co-founded Keyhole, Inc., where he served as Vice President of Engineering before the company was acquired by Google.

At Google, Brian spent the next decade leading the Geo engineering team, where he played a key role in the development and evolution of Google Earth, Google Maps, Street View, Local Search, and GroundTruth.

He serves as a research professor at the University of Kansas, his alma mater, and was awarded an honorary doctorate in electrical engineering from the university in 2015. In a fitting tribute to his roots, his childhood home at Meadowbrook Apartments in Lawrence, Kansas was set as the original default center point of Google Earth.

Thomas Gewecke serves as President and Chief Operating Officer at Niantic Spatial, where he oversees the company’s commercial activities, business strategy and operations. Previously, he was Chief Digital Officer and EVP, Strategy and Business Development at Warner Bros. Entertainment, where he led the Studio’s global digital business and its corporate strategy, M&A and technology functions. Prior to this role, he served as President, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution, with responsibility for worldwide digital revenue; and as EVP, Global Digital Business for Sony Music Entertainment, leading its expansion into mobile music. He also held the position of Publisher of the PC World Online Network at International Data Group, a leading technology publisher. Gewecke graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College with a bachelor's degree in social studies.