Jury Alumni

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  Brian Case

  Vice President R&D, Fresenius Kabi

  2017 Commercial Equipment Jury Member

  Brian Case is a Vice President of Research and Development for Fresenius Kabi's Medical Device Division. Brian has over twenty years of experience in developing products from conceptualization to market launch. He has spent the last ten years focusing on the development of apheresis technology. The latest example is Fresenius Kabi’s AmiCORE® Advanced Platelet Apheresis System. Prior to joining Fresenius Kabi, Brian led the advanced research team at Cook Medical focusing on the development of stents and tissue engineered valves. Brian helped Cook launch their first self-expanding stent Zilver®. In addition, Brian has extensive experience in user interface design and usability evaluations. Brian is a prolific inventor and has over 70 patents.
  
  Brian has a master's degree in Engineering Management from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and a bachelor's degree in Engineering Mechanics from the University of Illinois. He is a licensed Professional Mechanical Engineer and a certified Project Management Professional.

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  Aimee Franco

  Product Designer

  2017 Commercial Equipment Jury Member

  Aimee Franco is an independent design consultant based in Brooklyn, NY. She studied industrial design at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan and currently works on projects that span the physical and digital product realms.
  
  Passionate about designing for impact, Aimee has spent most of her career working in the healthcare space. Early on, she worked with Fortune 500 medical technology companies as an industrial designer at​ ​Tekna​. Later, she collaborated with​ ​iDE Cambodia​ on healthcare-focused international development projects, and she began designing digital experiences. More recently, as Product Design Lead at Caremerge, she worked on designing a care coordination platform for older adults, and has since become an independent consultant.
  
  Aimee has also taught as an adjunct instructor for Startup Institute’s web design program.

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  Mesve Vardar

  Director of Industrial Design, Humanscale

  2017 Commercial Equipment Jury Member

  Mesve Vardar is the Director of Industrial Design at Humanscale. With a decade of Humanscale experience behind her, Mesve Vardar has been a key contributor to a number of celebrated Humanscale products, including the Red Dot award-winning T7 Mobile Technology Cart. She joined the company in 2006 as a designer after earning a Master of Arts in Industrial Design from Pratt Institute. Before accepting the role of Design Director, Vardar worked as a Senior Industrial Designer and Researcher. In this capacity she worked on product development and research across categories, including seating, monitor arms, healthcare and lighting. Having conducted dedicated research into the future workplace, she is motivated by front-end thinking and the broad impact Humanscale can have on the changing office.

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  Ian Ferguson

  Founder, PostlerFerguson

  2017 Consumer Product Jury Captain

  Ian Ferguson (born USA 1977) studied Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he received a B.Science in Architectural Design in 2000. In 2007, he received his MA Design Products at the Royal College of Art.
  
  Along with Martin Postler, he is a founder and director of PostlerFerguson, an industrial design office creating products for a meaningful future. PostlerFerguson works with clients to design and develop products combining bold creative vision with refined technical solutions.
  
  In 2011, he also co-founded PostlerFerguson’s sister company in Hong Kong, Papafoxtrot, a lifestyle and wood toy company. They produce a range of wood toys based on modern industrial marvels and the Staeckler shoe display systems. Their products have received accolades and awards including nominations for the Designs of the Year by London’s Design Museum, and Space.com’s Space Age Award.
  
  He has worked extensively as an architect, for firms including Testa + Weiser (Los Angeles), Hideto Horiike + Urtopia (Tokyo), and Ove Arup (London). He has taught architecture and design at the Southern California Institute of Architects, University of California Los Angeles, Aarhus University and the Istituto Europeo di Design, and co-directed the first year architecture course at London Metropolitan University, and ran Platform 17 in the Royal College of Arts Design Products department from 2011 - 2015.

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  Martin Postler

  Founder, PostlerFerguson

  2017 Consumer Product Jury Captain

  Martin Postler (born Germany 1977) studied Industrial Design at the Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design, graduating with a Diplom (MA aequivalent) in 2004. He received his MA Design Products in 2007 from the Royal College of Art and Kyoto University of Arts.
  
  Martin worked for diverse design agencies in Hamburg, Hong Kong and London for clients including Boeing, Lufthansa, Airbus, Nokia and Deutsche Telekom and received numerous awards including the Raymond Loewy Foundation Award, Red Dot, IF Design, DAAD and Invent Scholarship from the German Ministry of Education. From 2011 - 2015 he taught at the Royal College of Art Design Products Departement.
  
  Along with Ian Ferguson, he is a founder and director of PostlerFerguson, an industrial design office creating products for a meaningful future. PostlerFerguson works with clients to design and develop products combining bold creative vision with refined technical solutions. With offices in London and Hamburg, they have an international roster of clients including LG Electronics, Nike, Acoustic Research, Nudeaudio, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Victoria and Albert Museum.
  
  In 2011, he also co-founded PostlerFerguson’s sister company in Hong Kong, Papafoxtrot, a lifestyle and wood toy company. They produce a range of wood toys based on modern industrial marvels and the Staeckler shoe display systems. Their products have received accolades and awards including nominations for the Designs of the Year by London’s Design Museum, and Space.com’s Space Age Award.
  
  He is currently a Professor of product systems and production processes at the Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design.

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  Chester Chipperfield

  Global Creative Director, Tesla

  2017 Consumer Product Jury Member

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  Scott Croyle

  Chief Product and Design Officer, Nextbit

  2017 Consumer Product Jury Member

  As SVP of Design and User Experience at HTC, Scott led the team that launched several acclaimed phones including the Evo, Incredible, and HTC One M7 and M8. Before that Scott was a principal at One + Co, an award-winning lifestyle design firm, which was acquired by HTC in 2008.

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  Benjamin Hubert

  Founder, Layer

  2017 Design Concept Jury Captain

  Benjamin Hubert is an award-winning British design entrepreneur, and founder of creative agency, LAYER. The new agency is the evolution of Benjamin Hubert Ltd. and is focused on experience-driven design for both the physical and digital worlds.
  
  Benjamin graduated from Industrial Design & Technology at Loughborough University in 2006, and began his career at DCA Design, the largest design consultancy in the UK. He moved to London in 2007 to work for internationally renowned design consultancy Seymour Powell as senior industrial designer on a variety of prestigious projects, including Eurostar interiors. He then joined Tangerine, the agency at which Jonathan Ive worked prior to Apple.
  
  In October 2010, at the age of 26, Benjamin founded Benjamin Hubert Ltd. with the aim of creating long-lasting products that would truly connect with people and become new heirlooms.
  
  Following five successful years of growth working with the world’s foremost interior product, luxury and consumer goods brands, Benjamin wanted to establish a platform to fully represent the studio’s multi-layered approach to design and its growing roster of creative partners.
  
  LAYER launched in September 2015, with a focus on creating meaningful experiences based on extensive research and human behaviours. The new holistic design practice incorporates a more diverse creative toolbox, including industrial design, mechanical and electrical engineering, user experience design, user interaction design, branding, and human-centred research.
  
  Benjamin has received a number of awards, including the RedDot Design Award, iF Design Award, and London Design Museum’s Designs of the Year.

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  Peter Bristol

  Director of Industrial Design, Oculus

  2017 Design Concept Jury Member

  Peter Bristol's work blends form with function in uniquely appropriate ways making products that are inherently recognizable. His designs have been recognized across multiple genres with a broad array of patents and awards. Peter is currently director of industrial design at virtual reality company Oculus. Parallel to Oculus, Peter partners with design focused companies to create furniture, lighting and other goods.

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  Max Fraser

  Design Commentator, London Design Guide

  2017 Design Concept Jury Member

  Max Fraser works as a design commentator across the media of books, magazines, exhibitions, video, and events to broaden the conversation around contemporary design. He delivers content and strategy for a variety of public and private bodies in the UK and abroad.
  
  He is the author of several design books including DESIGN UK and DESIGNERS ON DESIGN, which he co-wrote with Sir Terence Conran. He owns Spotlight Press, a publishing imprint, recent titles include LONDON DESIGN GUIDE and DEZEEN BOOK OF IDEAS. As a journalist, he writes for publications including Newsweek International, Financial Times, CNN Style and Blueprint. Previously, he worked as the Deputy Director of the London Design Festival from 2012-2015.

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  Jakob Kristoffersen

  Design- and Concept Manager, Bang & Olufsen

  2017 Design Concept Jury Member

  Jakob Kristoffersen, by formal title; as Concept & Design Manager for B&O PLAY by Bang & Olufsen, doesn’t really say much. His craft is creative direction, but he sees the essence of his role in designing and nurturing EXPERIENCES, ideas – concepts. a Storyteller. Spending time understanding the unarticulated drivers of urban creative individuals. Curating design strategies and philosophies down to products answering those needs. Directing the creative process of concepts to realize these in luxuriously simple beautiful designs in tune with tones and styles in the time.
  Packs a background in start-ups in Silicon Valley, educated in Global Business Engineering and Innovation Management from Denmark, Business Administration and Design at Harvard Business School and Harvard University in Boston, business development in China, and a detour to management consulting. A fan of emotional- and rational passion. Speaks Chinese. Coat size 48.

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  Petrula Vrontikis

  Creative Director, Vrontikis Design Office

  2017 Design Education Initiative Jury Captain

  Petrula Vrontikis is a leading influence in graphic design. Her current work includes research, writing, consulting, creating brand communication strategies, training, and coaching. She received an AIGA Fellows Award honoring her as an essential voice raising the understanding of design within the industry and among the business and cultural communities. She served as a national advisory board member of the AIGA and is frequently asked to serve on numerous local, national, and international design juries.
  
  She is creative director and owner of Vrontikis Design Office (@vrontikis and 35k.com) and a professor at Art Center College of Design, teaching graphic design, career development, and professional practice courses.
  
  Her professional practice gives her role as a teacher an important authenticity. She encourages students to explore their potential as designers and as a catalyst for change in the larger creative community.
  
  Petrula is an avid traveler and visual translator. It’s not unusual to find her scuba diving with giant manta rays, climbing a steep and rocky slope, or twisting her body like a pretzel in a yoga class.

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  Roshi Givechi

  Partner and Executive Design Director, IDEO

  2017 Design Education Initiative Jury Member

  Roshi Givechi is a Partner and Executive Design Director at IDEO, a global design consulting firm. Having called many of IDEO's US and Asia offices home, Roshi channels her global exposure to amplify creativity and culture – cultivating opportunities for designers, clients, and an extended creative network to inspire and challenge each other in service of making a difference in the world. This exposure also means she spots patterns and edges across region as well as industry, enabling her to help shape good design. As a designer inspired by choreography, Roshi loves dissecting the many parts that come together to make a greater whole—whether designing for cities, products, services, or shaping stories themselves. Her years at IDEO have given her an intimate view of the changing nature of design’s role, and what it means to envision and define products and systems that bring disproportionate impact to the world. Roshi’s clients include Anheuser-Busch InBev, Bank of America, the Kaufman Foundation, Medtronic, NASA, Nokia, Ritz-Carlton, Steelcase, Timberland, and YouTube.
  
  
  In her role at IDEO, Roshi regularly teaches design thinking through facilitated innovation workshops within organizations. She has also taught cross-disciplinary design at the California College of Arts and, most recently, Human Values in Design at Stanford In New York. She is a frequent collaborator of the Sundance Institute Theater Program, helping to host public conversations on topics that inform our daily lives through a forum coined Creative Tensions (creativetensions.com). Roshi holds an MFA from Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, a BS from University of California, Davis, and in January 2009, was profiled in I.D Magazine’s “I.D. 40” list as one of 40 leading design innovators. She’s keen to figure out what to show for it in 2049...

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  Phil Hamlett

  Director, School of Graphic Design, Academy of Art University

  2017 Design Education Initiative Jury Member

  Phil Hamlett is the Director of the School of Graphic Design at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, the largest private art and design school in the country. In this setting, he teaches classes, develops curriculum, recruits and manages instructors, advises students, manages the graduate thesis development process, conducts outreach and establishes the strategic agenda for the School. His students emerge as advanced design practitioners and go on to acquire positions at leading firms around the world. Phil joined the Academy in 2004 and served for thirteen years as the Graduate Director for the School of Graphic Design, building the nascent MFA program from scratch.
  
  Prior to becoming a design educator, Phil led design studios on both coasts, creating award-winning work for clients large and small. His extensive professional experience provides him with the perspective necessary to prepare students for the challenges of the real world. Capable of playing a wide variety of design, communication and managerial roles, he is adept at identifying creative challenges, distilling core objectives, formulating a plan of attack, and managing the team that will then fix everything.
  
  Phil recently completed his term as president of the AIGA San Francisco chapter, for which he continues to serve ex officio. He is also a former AIGA national board member, founder of Compostmodern and co-author of the Living Principles for Design — the means by which he guides the development of sustainable business practice within the design community As a charter member of the Winterhouse Institute Founder’s Circle, he helps articulate the value of design education for social impact.
  
  In his off time, he can usually be found chasing around his two adorable children (photos available upon request).

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  Jeremy Mende

  Founder, MendeDesign

  2017 Design Education Initiative Jury Member

  Jeremy Mende is a visual artist and designer from San Francisco, California. In 2000 he founded MendeDesign, a creative practice that balances commercial projects with strategic design work for socially oriented non-profits. The studio has been recognized internationally for its work and currently has pieces in several collections including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Jeremy is a professor of design at California College of the Arts.

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  Joe Speicher

  Executive Director, AutoDesk Foundation

  2017 Design for Social Impact Jury Captain

  Joe Speicher is the Executive Director of the Autodesk Foundation. Under his leadership, the Foundation supports the people and organizations designing and engineering high-impact solutions to the world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges. Prior to joining Autodesk, Speicher was on the founding team of Living Goods, where he spent six years leading operations for the global health organization. He began his career in the banking and finance sector, working with Deutsche Bank and Cambridge Associates. He then spent three years in the Peace Corps in the Philippines and has worked as a consultant for the Economist Intelligence Unit, the World Bank and Google.org. He earned a Masters degree in Development Economics from Columbia University and holds a Bachelors of Science degree from Washington and Lee University.