The Team
President
Ethan Ferguson started his first tech education company out of high school. He specializes in training local youth in cutting edge augmented and virtual reality technology. Ferguson has worked with schools in Shelby County to promote the adoption of Virtual and Augmented Reality in classroom curriculums. He is a graduate of Rhodes College pursuing a degree in Computer Science. As a teen, he was involved in the Teenup901 and Cloud901 initiatives. During that time, he worked with the XQ program to help start Crosstown High. Crosstown High was his first client, and he still works with the students regularly to revolutionize their project-based tech curriculum. At Cinilope Ethan serves as the CTO / President and leads the development teams on the various Cinilope projects.
Secretary
Brad Priester grew up in Memphis and lives in Jackson, TN with his wife, Joanna. He met Joanna at Rhodes College in 1984. Brad and Joanna’s proudest accomplishment is their daughter, Halle, who also graduated from Rhodes.
Brad started the Jackson office of Mid-South Retina Associates 23 years ago and still enjoys his full-time practice as an eye surgeon specializing in diseases affecting the retina and vitreous. In his spare time, Brad tinkers around in the fields of motor learning and AR/VR gaming.
Brad holds 13 patents with one patent pending. His trademark portfolio is now the property of Cinilope, LLC and includes The Skybies with lead characters, Whirley and Windy, as well as a separate trademark for the story world, Sky and Bee.
Lead Software
Engineer
Alfonso Canady grew up in Memphis and graduated from Rhodes College with a Bachelor’s in Computer Science in 2019. He currently works as an instructor for the CodeCrew organization teaching Computer Science to kids in the Memphis area. At Cinilope Alfonso works directly under the lead programmer, Ethan Ferguson, to assist in developing Cinilope’s various projects. In his spare time he enjoys cooking, solving programming problems, and tinkering with circuits.
Content Lead
Ben Brandon is a digital artist who uses technology to express his ideas. He specializes in video, graphic design, photography, and virtual reality. Ben graduated from Lausanne Collegiate School in 2020 and is now attending Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta, Georgia where he is majoring in Immersive Reality. He has led youth at Lausanne to design and develop virtual reality experiences as well as created experiences for his own projects.
