Jury Alumni

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  Jackie Chang

  Project Lead Designer, Nissan

  2017 Transportation Jury Captain

  Jackie Chang is a Project Lead Designer at the Silicon Valley office of Nissan Design America (NDA), part of the global design organization of Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. (NML). He is responsible for leading cross-functional research and design activities to connect consumer experiences with future HMI/GUI design for Nissan and Infiniti products with a user-centered approach to lead and shape new mobility experience in the era of autonomous drive. The activities are already yielding positive results in the upstream design development process.
  
  Since joining Nissan Design America, San Diego, California, in 2001 as an automotive interior designer, Jackie participated and contributed in the design development of many key Nissan products, including the 2012 Nissan NV2500 commercial van, 2014 NV200 NYC Taxi and 2016 Nissan Maxima 4-door sports car. He also led the GUI design development of the 2015 Nissan IDS concept (debuted Tokyo Motor Show) and supported the GUI design of 2017 Nissan Vmotion 2.0 concept (North American International Auto Show).
  
  All Nissan and Infiniti products and concept cars are designed and developed in global collaboration under the leadership of Shiro Nakamura, Senior Vice President and Chief Creative Officer of NML.
  
  Born in Taiwan and growing up in Argentina and Spain, Jackie moved to the United Stated in 1998 after being accepted by the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California. He graduated in 2001 with BS in Transportation Design.

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  Alisha Ramos

  Founder/CEO, No Plans, Inc. (Girls' Night In, Whiled)

  2021 Personal Accessory Jury Member

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  Bryce Rutter

  Head of Consulting Services | UX, HF, ID, Noble Aptar Pharma

  2024 Health & Wellness Jury Member

  Dr. Rutter is Head of Consulting Services for Nobel, and Aptar Pharma company. He is a worldwide expert in the research, ergonomics and design of handheld medical devices, products, and packaging. Aptar acquired Metaphase, a design consultancy specializing in research, human factors, and industrial design founded by Dr. Rutter in 1991. His leadership and vision has consistently delivered award-winning, innovative breakthrough designs for several of the world’s most prestigious and influential Fortune 500 brands having earned 120+ Global Design Excellence Awards, 115+ patents, 2 products included the Museum of Modern Art, several designs in the Chicago Athenaeum’s Good Design Museum Collection, 2 Edison Innovation Awards, and a Design of the Decade Award. Dr. Rutter has been profiled, an invited guest, and interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, CNN, CTV, IdeaCity, CityTV, The Chicago Tribune, The Ottawa Citizen, The Globe & Mail and Business 2.0. Dr Rutter holds a Bachelor of Industrial Design from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and a Master Degree in Industrial Design and Ph.D. in Kinesiology, specializing in motor hand function, both from the University of Illinois.

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  Paul Danial

  Industrial Designer, UX-HF Ergonomics Expert III, Noble-Metaphase, Part of Aptar Pharma

  2024 Health & Wellness Jury Captain

  Paul Danial is a creative and technical industrial designer with an interest in product and experience design. Bridging his academic backgrounds in human kinetics and industrial design, he creates human centered designs that empower and optimize user experiences. Paul works with Noble-Metaphase, Part of Aptar Pharma, to consult and design hand-intensive products with a focus on medical devices. He finds passion and motivation in finding solutions to challenges that improve the quality of life of patients and effectiveness of practitioners. Paul has always been curious about how things work and often takes things apart and reimagines them. He could also be found sketching and doodling on any surface available. In his free time, Paul is passionate about aerospace and aviation, motivating him to pursue his private pilot's license. He also loves to travel the world with his wife, and he is excited to be a dad soon.

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  Chris Downs

  Managing Director, Normally

  2017 Service Design Jury Member

  Boss One of @NormallyStudio. Founder of live|work, Service Design Pioneer.

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  Lesley-Ann Noel

  Assistant Professor, Design Studies, North Carolina State University

  2023 Health & Wellness Jury Member

  Lesley-Ann Noel was trained as an Industrial Designer at the Universidade Federal do Paraná. She holds a PhD in Design from North Carolina State University and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of the West Indies. She is an Assistant Professor at the College of Design at North Carolina State University. She is co-Chair of the Pluriversal Design Special Interest Group of the Design Research Society. She is one of the co-editors of The Black Experience in Design for Allworth (2022) and has created several design tools for critical reflection such as The Designer’s Critical Alphabet and the Positionality Wheel.

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  Alex Rainert

  VP of Product, Nucleus

  2016 Interaction Jury Member

  I've got 17 years of experience building teams and shipping products in wildly different creative and business environments - startups (co-founder @dodgeball, head of product @Foursquare), large tech companies (Google), digital agencies (R/GA, Razorfish) and an amazing tech-meets-art graduate program (NYU’s ITP).
  
  I'm currently leading Product at a NYC-based hardware + software company called Nucleus. We're building a smart intercom that will serve as the foundation for people to communicate seamlessly with the ones they care about the most — whether they’re in another room in the same house, in a completely different location (Hi mom!) or on the move on their mobile devices.
  
  You can learn more about the product at www.nucleuslife.com. I'm building up the product team so if you have any interest in designing an experience that will live at the center of families' lives, get in touch and let me know what excites you about it.
  

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  Daniel Hundt

  Head of Design, Nuro

  2020 Consumer Technology Jury Captain

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  Beau Perschall

  Director, Omniverse Sim Data Ops, NVIDIA

  2023 Emerging Technologies Jury Member

  Beau is a 30+ year 3D animation industry veteran and respected management professional with a long track record of delivering high-quality tools, services, and support on his partners' behalf. He's developed and maintained deep relationships with all of the major players in the 3D arena including NVIDIA, Amazon, Autodesk, Adobe, Apple, Microsoft, Maxon, Epic Games, and Unity just to name a few, and has been deeply involved in helping bring standards to 3D over the past 20 years as part of TurboSquid, which was acquired by Shutterstock in 2021. He was instrumental in the development of both the CheckMate 3D modeling standard and StemCell initiatives to help train artists on how to create visual content in a more consistent and professional manner so it could be utilized in multiple projects easily. In his role at NVIDIA, he is building a new 3D content creation standard called SimReady to help ensure that 3D art assets can be utilized across a wide range of machine learning, AI and simulation platforms in a consistent and predictable manner.

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  Alexis Lloyd

  Creative Director, NY Times R&D Lab

  2016 Interaction Jury Captain

  Alexis Lloyd is the Creative Director of The New York Times Research & Development Lab, where she investigates emerging technologies and prototypes future concepts for news and media. Her work is focused on creating immersive and exploratory experiences through innovative physical-to-digital interactions, data visualization and screen-based interfaces.
  
  Before joining The New York Times Company in 2007, Ms. Lloyd designed award-winning projects for Columbia University, FOX, American Express, The New York Historical Society and PBS, among others. Additionally, her media artwork has been shown at international venues such as the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, SIGGRAPH, the Chelsea Art Museum and Symphony Space.
  
  Ms. Lloyd received her Bachelor of Arts from Vassar College and holds an MFA in Design and Technology from Parsons The New School for Design.

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  Ayako Takase

  co-founder / principal, Observatory

  2024 Furniture & Lighting Jury Member

  Ayako Takase (she/they) is the co-founder/principal of Observatory, an award-winning, multi-disciplinary design studio founded in 2001. Observatory balances innovation and simplicity to foster meaningful connections with people, culture, and audiences. With work spanning creative fields, Observatory relies foremost on an intuitive process that allows a natural interplay of form and function to take place in their designs. The studio has worked for leading companies such as Herman Miller, Google, and Procter & Gamble. Ayako is also an Associate Professor at the Rhode Island School of Design and a director of the graduate program in the Industrial Design Department. They teach hands-on studios focusing on audience-centric, emotive, and iterative design. Ayako lives in Cranston, Rhode Island, with her partner and too many creatures.

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  Angela Bains

  Acting Associate Dean, OCAD University

  2024 Speculative Design Jury Member

  Angela Bains currently serves as the Acting Associate Dean within the Faculty of Design at the OCAD University (OCAD U), Toronto, Canada. Her previous role involved serving as the Graduate Program Director for the Strategic Foresight & Innovation (SFI) program. Notably, a member of the Solid Black Collective research group at OCAD U. She is the co-creator of the SFI’s Decolonising Futures BIPOC Speakers Series, and Black SFI (Strategic Foresight & Innovation). In addition to her academic roles, Angela holds the position of Co-Founder and Strategic Director at TransformExp, an esteemed commercial and social change strategy and design firm located in Vancouver, Canada.
  
  Originating from the United Kingdom, Angela brings with her more than three decades of extensive experience in the creative industry. Her professional achievements extend to being a sought-after speaker and host, notably participating in events such as The State of Black Design, Design Management Institute - Diversity in Design Conference, Association of Registered Graphic Designers (RGD) – International DesignThinkers Conference and Black Design, Past, Present & Future. Furthermore, Angela has dedicated her expertise to part-time teaching in Strategic Design at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT). This multifaceted professional background underscores Angela Bains' substantial contributions to the fields of design, strategic foresight, and innovation.

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  Jennifer Kinon

  Co-founder, OCD | Original Champions of Design

  2018 Visual Communication Jury Captain

  Jennifer Kinon co-founded OCD | The Original Champions of Design with Bobby C. Martin Jr. OCD has developed brand identity systems for clients that range from the Girl Scouts of the USA to The New York Times, MTV and the NBA. During 2016, Kinon served as Design Director of Hillary for America. She has spoken about the role of brand identity systems around the world and served as President of AIGA/NY. Kinon graduated from the University of Michigan and earned an MFA from the School of Visual Arts, where she was the first graduate of the program to join its faculty.

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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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  Jonas Damon

  Industrial Design Consultant, Office for Design

  2023 Lifestyle Accessories Jury Member

  Jonas Damon is an industrial designer and creative director, collaborating with startups and established companies through his New York City-based consultancy Office for Design. Jonas engages with a wide range of industries, including technology, personal care, furniture & lighting, architecture & construction, food & beverage, and retail & hospitality, interested in outcomes that explore aspects of discovery, engagement, and play.
  
  Prior to Office for Design, Jonas held leadership positions at Starbucks, where he founded the company's first internal industrial design team, frog design, where he led the firm's North American industrial design and mechanical engineering teams, and an earlier iteration of Office for Design.
  

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  Kevin Williams

  Founder & CEO, OgoSport

  2024 Toys & Play Jury Captain

  Kevin Williams, a product developer based in coastal South Carolina, graduated with a Masters in Industrial Design from Pratt Institute in 1995. He has since founded several design-focused companies including MAKE, CAKE, Everest Columbarium, Ogosport, and Plan C. In 2006, alongside Rick Goodwin, he started Ogosport, a toy and game company. Ogosport's innovative products are distributed in over 40 countries and have earned multiple nominations and awards, including the TOTY (Toy of the Year) from the Toy Industry Association. Kevin is deeply passionate about design, emphasizing user experience and play value in his work.