Virtual events platform Flox, based in Chichester, United Kingdom, has appointed Brian Diamond as North American CEO to lead the business’ U.S. expansion. Diamond joins Flox from his position as a leading business advisor and investor in startups and scale-ups across multiple categories. Flox’s 3D virtual platform offers the first full-feature metaverse experience to create humanized virtual and hybrid live events serving up to 25,000 participants for business, human resource, marketing, and event leaders across all industries.
Diamond was previously founder and CEO of both The Visionary Group in Palatine, Illinois, an award-winning and leading U.S. experiential agency, and White Walls Fabrication, a manufacturer in Santa Clarita, California. An early pioneer of experiential marketing—a creative twist on event production and event marketing—Diamond successfully scaled The Visionary Group to over 150 staff. Clients included Microsoft, Google, Meta, Amazon, Netflix, and Warner Bros.
“It was only fitting to bring on board the highest-caliber leader, to take the U.S. strategic lead in this niche innovative business,” says Alistair Bryan, Flox cofounder, in a prepared statement. “Brian’s reputation and tenacity within the industry made him the clear frontrunner to take on the responsibility of almost half the market share inside this virtual-experience business. Brian has an enviable leadership skillset to spearhead the North American efforts, steer the business, and build the Flox brand.”
Flox technology offers a more sustainable and immersive experience, with strong return on investment and measurable CO2 savings, the company says. Based on 3,000 attendees at a physical event, an equivalent global Flox virtual event for a global brand would save 333 tons of CO2 and 85% of the costs of hosting the event in person.
The global virtual events market is projected to reach $617.33 billion by 2030.
“It’s such an exciting time to be joining Flox, and I’m looking forward to building a thriving team of innovators that will push the boundaries of what’s possible using the powerful Flox platform,” Diamond says. “I believe the stars were aligned when I met Jaie [Genadt, the other Flox cofounder] and Alistair—I was seeking a partnership role where we would mutually benefit from my decades of experiential marketing experience and the potential capabilities within this expanding sector.”
