Jury Alumni

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  Selen Selviler Özüekren

  Co-Founder, Karbon

  2017 Visual Communication Jury Captain

  Selen Selviler Ozuekren is the co-founder and creative director of Karbon Design Studio. She graduated as an architect from Istanbul Technical University in 1999. She was admitted to Istanbul Bilgi University Visual Communication Design graduate program. She worked at the same department as a teaching assistant. After receiving her MA degree in VCD, she was admitted to Pratt Institute Communication Design graduate program. She worked as an instructor at Istanbul Bilgi University, VCD between 2003-2009.
  
  Selen co-founded Karbon in 2005. Since then she's been working at Karbon as a designer and consultant. Karbon is a multi-disciplinary design studio providing creative solutions and consultancy in concept design, branding, communication design & strategy, architectural design and interior design. Karbon team is a hybrid combination of graphic designers, communication designers and architects. The company established a reputation through their work specifically in overall concept designs for café&restaurants, packaging design and branding. She is a member of GMK, Turkish Graphic Designers Association since 2006.

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  Kim Baer

  Principal, KBDA

  2017 Packaging Jury Member

  Kim Baer, principal of Los Angeles-based design studio KBDA is a strong believer in the power of design as a strategic tool. Her firm has created research-driven work for for-profit clients as diverse as Hyatt, and Nike, as well as nonprofits such as The Getty, the Hammer Museum, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, and the LA Phil.
  
  KBDA specializes in helping organizations hone their positioning. Once that messaging has been crafted, KBDA is well known for its focus on audience experience, whether it’s experienced online, in print or in an environment.
  
  Consistently honored by every major design organization in the country, KBDA has produced work that has been featured in the Library of Congress and regularly published in design anthologies. Premiere design magazines such as Communication Arts and HOW have regularly showcased the firm’s work and methodology.
  
  Kim Baer served on the national board of the AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) and received the Fellows Award from the Los Angeles chapter of AIGA in honor of lifetime achievement. She is the author of Information Design Workbook from Rockport Publishers, an in-depth look at best practices in information design from around the world. She is also on the Advisory Board for Art Center’s MFA Graduate Graphic Design program.

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  Lora Appleton

  Founder, kinder MODERN & Female Design Council

  2021 Design for Social Impact Jury Member

  Lora Appleton is a thought leader, celebrated designer, curator, gallerist and founder of kinder MODERN and Female Design Council. Leading the charge for womxn in design, she is working to shift the narrative away from “traditional” gender roles and family structures and towards womxn’s technical skills, artistry and professional merits.
  
  Appleton formed the Female Design Council as a direct response to the long history of imbalanced representation of gender in the design industry. FDC is dedicated to engaging equity and tangible gender parity in design. Appleton continues to focus her furniture and rug design efforts on thoughtful, practical and sustainable design in the family home. She serves on the NYCxDESIGN Steering Committee and is a Board Trustee at the Blue School in Manhattan.

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  Kelly Custer

  Founder + Creative Director, Knack

  2019 Health & Wellness Jury Member

  I am the Founder + Design Director of Knack, the illustration studio that helps corporate innovators visualize their product ideas.
  
  Over my 12+ year career, I have seen and worked behind the curtains of dozens of big brand product innovation teams, concepting (literally) thousands of product innovations.
  
  I use that experience to lead Knack's team and help our clients determine what products their companies should design next.
  
  It kills me to see companies waste resources developing bad ideas!
  
  If you're interested in collaborating on product innovation, feel free to get in touch.
  Over her 10+ year career, she has seen and worked behind the curtains of dozens of big brand product innovation teams. She and her Knack team bolster these teams by helping them conceptualize and visually communicate product ideas.
  
  While her expertise is ultra-focused, her experiences are incredibly diverse. She's designed a wide variety of products; from one-off yachts for individuals to medical devices for a Fortune 500 company to consumer electronics and housewares, and everything in between. This variety has afforded her a large and deep pool of understanding to cross-reference and pull into new projects.
  
  When she’s not in the studio, she can be found on a mountain bike trail, trying to keep up with her husband on her dirt bike, or exploring the Tennessee river on their vintage stand-up jet skis.

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  Alexis Brunkow

  Architecture & Design Manager, Knoll

  2022 Home & Living Jury Member

  For more than 17 years, Alexis has held a multitude of roles within the design and architecture industry, spanning editorial writing for a home and garden publication, marketing, consulting and client relations. Currently, Alexis serves as Senior Manager at the Diversity in Design (DID) Collaborative, which was initiated in 2021 to foster systemic change by increasing diversity and improving conditions for Black creatives across the design industry. DID is a group of companies united by a common belief in the critical role that diversity plays in creating strong, impactful businesses and innovations in the design world and beyond. Alexis lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two dogs, and is passionate about sustainability, supporting local businesses, and empowering youth.

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  Sheila Kennedy

  Founding Principal, KVA Matx

  2017 Built Environment Jury Member

  Sheila Kennedy is an American architect, innovator and educator. She is a founding Principal of KVA Matx, an interdisciplinary practice that designs architecture, urbanism and resilient infrastructure for emerging public needs www.kvarch.net. Designated as one of Fast Company’s emerging Masters of Design, Kennedy is described as an “insightful and original thinker who is designing new ways of working, learning, leading and innovating”. Kennedy is the 2015 recipient of the Rupp Prize, the 2014 Design Innovator Award and is the 2016 recipient with SELCO India of an Inventing Green grant from the Lemulson Foundation. Kennedy is Professor of the Practice of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  
  Kennedy directs KVA’s material research division MATx which works with industry leaders, universities and public agencies to explore new applications for natural and emerging materials. Kennedy’s work focuses on the design of public space and next generation resilient infrastructure in networked cities and urbanizing regions. MATx has developed designs for Dupont, Siemens, Osram, Herman Miller, 3M, The North Face, the United States Department of Energy, Volkswagen “Think Blue” and the green Electrical Utility Company of Portugal in Brazil. The KVA MATx Portable Light Project, a non-profit global initiative to create energy harvesting textiles in the developing world has been recognized with a 2012 Energy Globe Award, a 2009 US Congressional Recognition Award, the 2009 and 2012 Energy Globe Awards and a 2008 Tech Museum Laureate Award for technology that benefits humanity.

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  Ben Gaffney

  VP of International Design Development, L. Ercolani

  2020 Furniture & Lighting Jury Captain

  Ben Gaffney is the Vice President of International Design Development for L. Ercolani, the 100-year-old U.K. design brand, and Founder of AileenJames, Retail and Design Partners. Ben is an industry veteran who has collaborated with Norm Architects, Design Within Reach, Menu A/S, HNI Group, and Atlason studio to bring innovative design solutions to a global market. Prior to his work with L. Ercolani and AileenJames, he was the Head of Product Development for Design Within Reach.

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  Magdalena Paluch

  Co-founder and CEO, LabTwin

  2021 Consumer Technology Jury Member

  Magdalena is the co-founder and CEO of LabTwin. She is a passionate design-driven entrepreneur with over 15 years of design and hands-on execution experience in building digital products and leading cross-disciplinary teams in an agile fashion.
  
  In her previous role as Director at BCGDV, she was responsible for building up from scratch more than ten corporate-backed start-ups in Europe and the U.S., primarily focused on the healthcare space.
  
  Before joining BCGDV, she worked as a Senior Innovation Strategist at Toyota, where she was responsible for identifying and implementing emerging technologies in mobility and robotics such as autonomous vehicle design.

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  Lisa McNally

  Engagement Lead, Lacuna Technologies

  2020 Transportation Jury Member

  Lisa McNally works at the nexus of transportation, technology, and social impact. Lisa has dedicated her career to designing programs that promote sustainable and equitable access to critical commodities such as clean energy and shared mobility—everyday services that significantly improve quality of life—especially for those who need it most.
  
  As Engagement Lead at Lacuna Technologies, Lisa helps cities make better use of streets and curbs through open technology while optimizing the benefits of emerging mobility for the public good.
  
  Bringing expertise in smart cities, livable communities, and climate change policy, Lisa has designed and delivered programs that provide meaningful solutions for everyday users of our built environment. Lisa holds a MS from the University of Oxford, as well as a BA in Anthropology and BS in Environmental Policy from UC Berkeley.

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  Lawrence Azerrad

  Founder, LAD Design

  2017 Packaging Jury Member

  Lawrence Azerrad is a Los Angeles based Graphic Designer and Creative Director. Azerrad founded LADdesign, a graphic design studio dedicated to elevating our cultural experience through design excellence. Since 2001 LADdesign has created graphic design and comprehensive visual identity systems for clients such as Sting, Universal Music Group, UC San Diego, The Silversun Pickups, Esperanza Spalding, The Skirball Cultural Center, The Beach Boys, UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, Red Bull Sound Select, and over an Eighteen-year client relationship, spanning seven album packages for award-winning American alternative rock band, Wilco. Azerrad is the author of a Supersonic: Design and Lifestyle of Concorde, a design history of the aircraft to be published 2017. Azerrad is the chair for AIGA’s Design+Music program, a national initiative to explore how design thinking can can make a positive impact on the music industry and American culture at large through innovation and creative excellence.
  
  Prior to opening LADdesign, Lawrence was an art director at Warner Bros Records, creating packaging and artwork for artists such as Miles Davis, and The Red Hot Chili Peppers. He has taught Graphic Design at Art Center College of Design, He currently serves as an Advisory Board Member for the Los Angeles chapter of the AIGA.

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  Lola Sheppard

  Co-founder, Lateral Office

  2017 Built Environment Jury Captain

  Lola Sheppard received her B.Arch from McGill University and M.Arch from Harvard Graduate School of Design. She is Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo. Together with Mason White, she founded Lateral Office in 2003.
  
  Lateral Office is an architecture practice that operates at the intersection of architecture, landscape, and urbanism. The studio describes its practice process as a commitment to design as a research vehicle to pose and respond to complex, urgent questions in the built environment, engaging in the wider context and climate of a project– social, ecological, or political. Lateral Office have been pursuing research and design work on the role of architecture in remote regions, particularly the North, for the past seven years. Lateral’s work tests the potential for architecture and infrastructure to be culturally responsive, geographically scalable, environmentally adaptable, and multi-purpose in its programmability.
  
  The office’s work has been exhibited and lectured extensively across the USA, Canada and Europe. Lateral Office was awarded a Special Mention at the 2014 Venice Biennale for Architecture, a PA award in 2013 and the Holcim Gold for Sustainable Construction for North America, for their project Arctic Food Network. They received the Emerging Voices from the Architectural League of New York in 2011, and the 2010 Professional Prix de Rome from the Canada Council for the Arts. Lateral Office are the authors of the upcoming book Many Norths: Spatial Practice in a Polar Territory (Actar 2017) and of Pamphlet Architecture 30, COUPLING: Strategies for Infrastructural Opportunism, published by Princeton Architectural Press (2011). Sheppard and White are also co-editors of the journal Bracket.

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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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  Kim Weckstrøm Jensen

  CEO, Le Klint

  2019 Furniture & Lighting Jury Member

  Kim – has taken a different route to the design business than most. From the Danish Army to many years in the Norwegian Mountains working with tourism – a back injury forced Kim to change profession – and he joined Stokke Tripp Trapp as regional sales manager. Finally in 1998, he came back home to LE KLINT as export manager – and since 2001, he has been CEO.

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  Alero Dawn Akuya

  Vice President of Global Brand, LEGO

  2024 Branding & Identity Jury Member

  While at Nike for 13 years, Alero was responsible for some of the most pivotal brand transformations for the sport and culture giant. Most notably, Alero created Nike's Purpose Marketing division, leading Nike's role in sport and social impact alongside key athletes Colin Kaepernick, Serena Williams, Kobe Bryant and many more. She led Nike New York where she orchestrated the launch of Nike's collaboration with Virgil Abloh at New York Fashion Week-- a first for the brand, and one of Nike's most successful collaborations of all time.
  Alero now serves as the Vice President of Global Brand for The LEGO Group. She is responsible for transforming the impact of the 89-year-old Danish brand globally to become a proactive cultural leader through play advocacy, inclusion, and innovation. She has led integrated brand strategy and global initiatives, and campaigns such as Rebuild the World, 90 Years of Play, Play Unstoppable, and Everyone is Awesome. Alero is committed to inspiring a world play movement to ensure creative play remains a birth rite to all children.
  

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  Alero Dawn Akuya

  VP Global Brand Development, LEGO

  2024 Visual Communication Jury Member

  While at Nike for 13 years, Alero was responsible for some of the most pivotal brand transformations for the sport and culture giant. Most notably, Alero created Nike's Purpose Marketing division, leading Nike's role in sport and social impact alongside key athletes Colin Kaepernick, Serena Williams, Kobe Bryant and many more. She led Nike New York where she orchestrated the launch of Nike's collaboration with Virgil Abloh at New York Fashion Week-- a first for the brand, and one of Nike's most successful collaborations of all time.
  Alero now serves as the Vice President of Global Brand for The LEGO Group. She is responsible for transforming the impact of the 89-year-old Danish brand globally to become a proactive cultural leader through play advocacy, inclusion, and innovation. She has led integrated brand strategy and global initiatives, and campaigns such as Rebuild the World, 90 Years of Play, Play Unstoppable, and Everyone is Awesome. Alero is committed to inspiring a world play movement to ensure creative play remains a birth rite to all children.
  

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  Dario Volpe

  Creative Director, Lettera7

  2024 Packaging Jury Member

  Dario Volpe is a designer with more than 20 years of experience in brand design, passionate about illustration, type design, and contemporary art. By experimenting with eclectic languages, he crosses multiple and diverse stylistic barriers, encouraging a deeper understanding and interpretation of the project's core message.

  
  In 2010, after several important international experiences as a designer (at Landor, Interbrand, Cb’a), he established Lettera7, a brand design studio based in Vietri sul Mare - Amalfi Coast, where he is both the founder and creative director.
  His ability to work across multiple disciplines has led Lettera7 to handle a variety of projects in different industries over the years, continuously improving their approach to meet a wide range of challenges: "There's no preferred industry for Lettera7; we're designers and any visionary idea well-structured can be turned into a virtuous project, no matter the industry tag it goes into"
  In his experimentation with visual languages, he has successfully led cultural initiatives including international festivals in cinema, music, and theatre, developed complex wayfinding systems in diverse locations, and enhanced brand design for Italian firms to spotlight their true market value. Especially in the food sector, his unconventional approach has blended artistic visuals with business needs, rapidly earning multiple projects international recognition.