Chris Livaudais is the Executive Director at Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA).  A designer and 15 year member of the IDSA, Chris works with desgin leaders across the country to ensure they have the tools and support needed to enrich their local design communities through events, outreach and advocacy.

Prior to his current role Chris worked as a Senior Design Consultant at Embraer and a Creative Director at InReality.    

Located in The Bay Area of San Francisco, Paul is CEO and Creative Director of paulwylde – an award-winning brand, innovation and design consultancy that specializes in designing for hospitality. His active clients include Delta Air Lines, Jet Suite X, The Boeing Company, Allegiant Airlines, Saudia, Hawaiian Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Hilton Worldwide, Air Canada, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Jet Blue and Panasonic. His projects span brand strategy, identity design, advertising, experience and service, food and beverage and new product development.

paulwylde’s recent design and innovation programs for JetBlue MINT, Hawaiian Airlines and Hilton Worldwide have been acknowledged by many as the most notable innovations in the North American and Asia Pacific markets, using brand-led design to disrupt the status quo and drive competitive advantage. paulwylde was voted one of the most influential design teams in the world today by Monocle magazine.

Paul regularly gives presentations and lectures on design management, corporate identity and branding at events and conferences across the world. In 1997, he was invited to Buckingham Palace to meet Her Majesty the Queen in recognition of his services to design. He has appeared on NPR, BBC 2 and Dutch television and has been featured in the New York Times T magazine and Monocle. Paul’s work has been exhibited at London’s Design Museum twice. He is a visiting lecturer at The University of Washington, Syracuse University, The London School of Marketing, Central Saint Martins School of Art and London Metropolitan University.

Dr. Brandon Gien is the Founder of Good Design Australia and Chair of the annual Australian Good Design Awards. In 2015, Brandon was inaugurated as a Senator of the World Design Organization (WDO), the world body for Industrial Design. He was a member of the Board of Directors for three consecutive terms and elected President of the organisation from 2013 to 2015, the first Australian to hold this position.

During his term as WDO President, he led the strategic transformation of the organisation, resulting in a new name, new vision and mission and a new global definition of Industrial Design. Through his work on the WDO Executive Board, he was instrumental in creating the World Design Impact Prize to honour Industrial Design driven projects that make a positive impact on our social, economic, cultural and environmental quality of life.

He is the current Chair of the Selection Committee for the World Design Capital®, designated every two years by the World Design Organization to recognise cities for their effective use of design to drive economic, social, cultural, and environmental development.

Prior to founding Good Design Australia, Dr. Gien was the Executive Director of Design Strategy at Standards Australia, recognised by the Australian Government as nation’s peak standards body.

He studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Newcastle where he later graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Design. He holds a PhD in Environmental Design from the University of Canberra’s School of Design and Architecture.

Brandon is a Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia, Professional Member of the Industrial Design Society of America, a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Member of the United Nations Association of Australia.

Dr. Gien was made a Design Ambassador to Japan, an international design advocacy role organised by the Japan Institute of Design Promotion (JDP).

He is currently an Adjunct Professor of Industrial Design at the University of Canberra and a presenter on popular television series: Australia by Design Innovation on Network TEN and 10 Bold.

Stuart Constantine is a co-founder and managing partner at Core77, a design and publishing company based in New York City. After graduating from the University of Connecticut with a BA in History, he worked as a packaging designer for Lotus Software, later earning as Masters Degree in Industrial Design from Pratt Institute.

He co-founded Core77 in 1995, over the years working as a designer, writer, editor, product manager, technology and business director. With over 20 years of experience in the design and technology industry, Stuart has deep expertise in industrial design, product development, digital publishing, and interaction design. He currently resides in Connecticut with his wife, three children and a collection of guitars, bicycles and pets.

Mr. Matano has almost 30 years of experience in the automotive industry, holding design positions at General Motors in Detroit, Michigan, GM Holden’s Ltd. in Melbourne, Australia, and BMW in Munich, Germany.

In 1983, he joined Mazda’s North American studio as a Chief Designer. From there, he went on to become Executive Vice President of Western Operations for Mazda R&D North America, Inc., and Executive Designer & Director of Mazda North American Operations.

From 1999 to 2002, Mr. Matano worked at Mazda’s headquarters in Japan as an Executive Designer in the Global Advance Studio, overseeing efforts for Japan, Europe, and North America; and eventually he was named General Manager of Mazda Design in charge of all Chief Designers.

His accomplishments at Mazda include the 1993 RX-7 and Miata, in addition to many other projects produced by the design teams he built and managed.

Since 2002, Mr. Matano has been committed to becoming an educator, using his diverse knowledge and experience to enhance the Industrial Design program at Academy of Art University in San Francisco, CA, now ranked #4 in the Red Dot World Ranking of Industrial Design schools.

Denise is a design leader, facilitator and independent consultant. She shows clients how to use the best practices of human-centered design coupled with influences from business, technology, and culture.

In her two decades of experience, she has created products, services and design systems; led clients through transformational innovation processes; and developed and facilitated capacity building approaches for spreading design to organizations of all sizes. Denise believes in the power of design to create positive social impact, and is especially passionate about systems design, ethics and humane technology.

Denise works  with a wide range of clients on projects such as homelessness interventions, clinical trials technology, “21st Century” education approaches, and smallholder farmer financial processes. In addition to her personal clients she also currently serves as Affiliate Head of Design for The Data Guild, a venture studio made up of data scientists, engineers, designers and entrepreneurs passionate about making a difference in the world through the thoughtful application of data to address critical challenges in the domains of climate change, renewable energy, life sciences and healthcare. Denise is an adjunct professor in the Interaction Design Masters Program at California College of the Arts.

Denise studied graphic design at The Savannah College of Art and Design, and received her graduate degree in Product Design from Stanford’s famous Product Design program. She spent 11 years at global innovation firm frog design, where she was the company’s second-ever female Executive Creative Director. In her tenure at frog, she designed solutions for everything from “Campbell’s Soup to NASA Mission Control,” always working in cross-disciplinary teams made up of visual, interaction, brand and industrial designers and technologists.

Denise eventually became frog’s Executive Director of Social Impact, thanks to her team’s work with clients like the Nike Foundation and UNICEF Innovation. She was the creative lead in developing frog’s Collective Action Toolkit, an open-source set of activities that guide people from unique backgrounds to bring together their skills and perspectives to address and solve challenges in their communities. The Collective Action Toolkit has been downloaded over 30,000 times in 4 different languages since its initial release, and has been adapted for use in small communities, schools, government and corporate settings. It was the winner of a Bronze International Design Excellence Award (IDEA).

As a student who studies Industrial Design at the Academy of Art University, E’lan is dedicated to learning what it takes to be not just a good designer but a great one.  To learn all there is to know about her current field, not only excites her but motivates her to make a change for the future of design. Technology and innovation have progressed in the latest years but it has yet to reach its maximum potential. Her dreams are to inform people about the importance of design and give it the recognition it deserves.

Having attended the Academy of Arts for four years, E’lan has acquired many skills that will aid her along the path of being an influential designer. The previous year, she worked with instructors from Nike and Adidas that facilitated her interest in developing products with a story. Prior to design, E’lan specialized in illustration, thus the implementation of her talents in illustration with her newfound accomplishments in design created a desire to story-tell through product. She believes that good design should have simplicity but be able to have a story that could make an impact just as strong as the product itself.

Sam is Co-CEO and co-founder of Planet Innovation Ltd.   Sam, is an innovative and strategic business leader with deep experience in strategy, sales and operations and a successful track record in the global commercialization of technology-rich products.  At PI, Sam is responsible for building the spin-off ventures which includes raising capital, establishing boards and management teams and executing the organisations business strategy. Prior to PI, Sam held various international roles at Leica (a Danaher company) and Vision BioSystems covering sales, marketing, operations and R&D.

Sam holds an Honours degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Melbourne, a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from Melbourne Business School and strategy training from London Business School.

Peter Freedman AM is the Founder and Chairman of RØDE Microphones, an entrepreneur, philanthropist and passionate ambassador for Australian manufacturing and export excellence. Among dozens of manufacturing, product and export awards, Peter received Australia’s highest national honour, the Order of Australia (denoted by AM) in 2016 and was Ernst & Young’s Australian Entrepreneur of the Year (National Industry Category) in 2014.

Established in 1992 as a brand under Freedman Electronics – the sound installation company started by his parents in 1967 – Peter has grown RØDE into the world’s number one brand in studio and on-camera microphones, with offices in Sydney, Los Angeles, New York, London, Seoul, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shenzhen.

2017 marked the 50th anniversary of the formation of Freedman Electronics, a milestone celebrated with an inspection tour by then-Prime Minister of Australia, The Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP, in February. In the Prime Minister’s words, “RØDE Microphones are legendary… the best in the world. This is a great Australian story.”

Katie Dill is the VP of Design at Lyft, where she oversees Lyft’s product design team working to make transportation efficient, safe and joyful. The team includes digital designers, service designers, industrial designers, illustrators, animators, writers, researchers and producers. While the team’s output is often in the form of an app and the physical bikes/scooters, it’s all in the service of a real world experience between people. Through design, the team endeavors to drive positive behavior change that can help to improve cities at large. The organization has grown threefold under Katie’s watch and has expanded into new categories like bikes, scooters, and public transportation.

Before joining Lyft, Katie was the Director of Experience Design at Airbnb and oversaw the designers defining Airbnb’s digital products and services. She led her team in successfully launching a company rebrand, scaling from 10 to 100, and establishing studios worldwide. Prior to that, Katie was a Partner at Greenstart Ventures, Creative Director at Frog Design, and an instructor in CCA’s Grad design program.

In 2019, Katie was named one of Business Insiders’ 10 People Transforming Technology, and received Girls in Tech “Creator of the Year” award. In 2017, Katie was named one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business. She’s also been a juror at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and Fast Company’s Innovation by Design Awards.

Ravi has lead RKS Design to the forefront of product and technical innovation globally for over four decades.  He is a highly respected designer, author, entrepreneur and speaker. Ravi’s innovation of Psycho-Aesthetics (P-A) is his highly regarded research methodology and the foundation of the thinking his team has been using with their clients since 1990. His powerful and compelling business book Predictable Magic has gained global recognition. P-A is captured in a widely used Harvard Case study and a comprehensive Harvard Business Class Exercise .  He has created many successful startups through the years from computer accessories, to electric guitars to his FinTech, LoanGifting, a solution for helping the tens of millions with student reduction.  His awards and patents number in the hundreds. Sharing, giving and exploring the unknown possibilities are what drives his ability to stay curious and passionate year after year.

Over the previous two and a half decades Carey Bond has established a career as a diversified fitness, outdoor industry and industrial design professional. As a presenter, producer and developer his television credits include “Targeted Sports” on the Health Network, “Adventure Center” on the Outdoor Life Network and “Adventure Racing 101” on the Sportskool Network. On internet radio he was a co-host and producer of “Buff and the Adventurers” on eyada.com and also co-hosted and produced “Adventure Center” on the Outdoor Life Network on Sirius Satellite Radio.

Carey’s passion for outdoor sports and adventure is matched by his passion for design. A graduate of Yale University he received a masters degree in industrial design from the Pratt Institute and a certificate in apparel design from the Fashion Institute of Technology. Both inhouse and as an outside consultant in footwear, performance soft goods and technical accessories his resume includes Cannondale, Scott, Jimlar / Mountrek, Endstar and Mesh01. He co-founded Bluemonic an independent start up focused on the development of innovative products for paddle sports including the Hydro PFD 2L.

Carey has balanced his media and design pursuits with extensive professional work as a guide, instructor, educator and presenter. He was a master instructor in the international launch of the Spinning indoor cycling program and co-lead educator in Equinox Fitness Club’s Fitness Training Institute. His fitness video credits include “Plyosport” and Body Bar “Sports Zone.” ACA L3 Coastal SUP certified, Carey is a career paddle sports and adventure racing instructor and has worked for Manhattan Kayak and SUP, The New York Kayak Company, Genesis Adventures, Discover Outdoors and Mike’s Paddle. He previously co-founded Suplogix pioneers of the SUP EMG study with Travis Grant.

Scott Henderson is among the top Industrial Designers working in America today. Scott’s product designs for his global fortune 500 client base have become best selling industry disruptors, and his own collection of useful and unique objects are sold throughout the world to retailers and museums including the MoMA Design Store and the National Gallery.

Scott believes design should achieve “clever-freshness”. “Clever” is ingenuity combined with a sense of wit. “Freshness”, in turn, evokes feelings of health and happiness – lightness as opposed to burden – a feeling of rebirth and an inspiration to move forward.

Aside from his world-renown and award-winning work in industrial design, Scott is an experienced inventor as evidenced by his portfolio of over 50 patents in the U.S. and Europe for novel innovations in fields as diverse as housewares and home accessories to consumer medical products and electronics. 

Scott’s work is included in the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Museum, the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian National Design Museum and the Alessi Museum.  Scott is a sought after presenter on the topic of design, both nationally and internationally.

Over 90% of Scott’s projects have been mass-produced, a track record few designers can claim. More to the point, products Scott has designed have generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues for his clients and have become industry best sellers.

For Scott, design is not a discussion of form versus function; it’s about thinking and the quality of the big idea.