Alex Howland

You might feel like you are living in an online world, with all the Zoom meetings and social media time required in today’s society, but it is unlikely you are as plugged in as Alex Howland is. As more and more companies have searched for ways to connect people remotely, Howland is already there.

In 2022, Howland led Virbela in building entirely online, metaverse campuses for major companies including Deloitte, Fujitsu and PwC. These types of platforms have evolved from novelties to must-haves, with Howland playing no small part in that transformation, as Virbela’s flagship platform powered eXp to incredible growth over the last couple years. Despite the focus on tech, Howland’s background is in organizational psychology, which means all the world-building he did in 2022 is built around people—who they are, and what they need.

“I give a lot of thought to how to have a positive impact on individual employees in a way that also benefits the organizations that they are a part of,” he says.