Jury Alumni

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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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  Hector Silva

  Executive Director, Advanced Design

  2021 Design Education Initiative Jury Captain

  Hector Silva brings over 7 years of teaching experience at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Notre Dame, the Academy of Art University, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Rochester Institute of Technology at their nationally-acclaimed industrial design programs. Recognized for his contributions in academia, Hector was awarded the Young Educator of the Year by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA). An active professional in the field, Hector works as an industrial design contractor through his own studio, H Design, partnering with Crate & Barrel, DesignLab, Nickelodeon, LeapFrog, Foster Grant, Insight Product Development, Lund & Company Invention, as well as various entrepreneurs. Hector is also the founder of the design nonprofit, Advanced Design (AD), an organization awarded the Special Achievement Award by the IDSA for making design education more accessible and through disrupting the mediums through which design education has been traditionally offered. AD continues to grow today, connecting students and working professionals to foster a community of design excellence. Most recently, Hector founded Offsite, a 12 week pilot program catered towards furthering design education outside of traditional academia space. This program was developed to translate the needs of the industry into course content taught by design industry leaders. The goal is to help students develop the right skill set and mentorship to thrive on the job and support them along the way.

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  Danielle Chen

  Staff Product Designer, Ro

  2021 Design Education Initiative Jury Member

  Danielle is a full-stack and mission-driven product designer passionate about creating products that are inclusive and accessible for all. As a recognized thought leader, she has spoken at a number of distinguished conferences including SXSW, Interaction Design Conference and International Design Conference, covering topics from design, cultures, technology and anything in between. She writes a newsletter called "Designing Culture“ dissecting how technology has changed our human cultures. She holds a Master’s in Integrated Product Design from University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor’s in Product Design from Drexel University.
  
  When she’s not doing design-related work (which is rare), you can find her leveling up her improv skills, going for hikes and making her next sourdough bread.

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  Alex Lobos

  Graduate Director, Industrial Design, Rochester Institute of Technology

  2021 Design Education Initiative Jury Member

  Alex explores design, technology, sustainability and emotional attachment as means to elevate quality of life. He is Professor and Graduate Director of Industrial Design at Rochester Institute of Technology, and Research Fellow Emeritus at Autodesk. At RIT, Alex leads a top-ranking program focused in interdisciplinary collaboration, accessible technology and applied design research. Alex and his students have partnered with Autodesk, AT&T, Colgate-Palmolive, General Electric, Makerbot, Stryker, Staples and Unilever, in projects covering digital fabrication, sustainable behaviors, learning futures, generative design, and everyday living. Alex holds a MFA from University of Notre Dame and a BID from Universidad Rafael Landivar.

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  Kat Reiser

  Senior Design Strategist, Booz Allen Hamilton

  2021 Design Education Initiative Jury Member

  Kat Reiser is a strategic thinker, driving innovation by understanding what to make and why it matters. In her time as a designer, Kat has consulted and participated in in-house design teams. She has had the opportunity to work with companies focused on housewares and packaged goods including Pampered Chef, PepsiCo, Chevron, P&G, AB InBev, and Oculus.
  
  Kat is also an instructor at Offsite, where she helps designers build the tools they need to seek employment while guiding the students through understanding and reflecting upon who they are and how they present themselves as designers.

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  Laura Silva

  Vice President, Accessibility Technology UX Design Lead, Bank of America

  2021 Design Education Initiative Jury Member

  Laura Silva is Bank of America’s Vice President, Accessibility Technology UX Design Lead. Previously, she worked at Amazon in the Global Search team as Accessibility and D&I designer. She’s originally from Bogota, Colombia but calls the U.S. her home. In her work, she focuses on inclusion, diversity and equity for her customers and coworkers.
  Her experiences being “the first and the only one” as a Afro-Latina in tech inspire her to advocate for the business and cultural benefits of highlighting the intersectionality of their customers.

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  Sloan Leo

  Founder/CEO, Flox Studio

  2021 Design for Social Impact Jury Captain

  Sloan Leo (they/them) is an artist and the Founder/CEO of FLOX Studio Inc. FLOX Studio is a community design and strategy studio that works with curious optimists who are committed to getting things done. FLOX is on a mission to increase the community design capacity of mission-driven enterprises so that the entire ecosystem is more brave, creative and resilient. Prior to founding FLOX Studio, Sloan Leo spent 15 years leading non-profit staff and volunteer teams at the Environmental Defense Fund, The Trust for Public Land, and other organizations at the intersection of community, justice, and design.

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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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  Wesley Hall

  Senior Designer, Douglas Elliman

  2021 Design for Social Impact Jury Member

  Wesley Hall, a Senior Designer at Douglas Elliman is a skilled graphic designer, illustrator, and creative consultant with 20 years of experience working with clients to generate design-driven solutions for marketing collateral, instructional design, print, and project management needs. He is the Co-Operator of FLOX Studio.

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  Stacey Panousopoulos

  Executive Director, AIGA NY

  2021 Design for Social Impact Jury Member

  Stacey Panousopoulos has extensive management and customer service experience in the creative sector. Stacey earned a BA in creative writing and classical studies at Hunter College in NYC. At AIGA NY, she builds relationships with the existing 3,000 members, the board of directors, sponsoring corporations and a range of external partners.

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  Alvin Schexnider

  Chief People Officer , Service + Equity Designer, Illustrator, IL Department of Human Services

  2021 Design for Social Impact Jury Member

  Alvin Schexnider (he/him) is a BizOps Lead, Service Designer, Equity Designer, and an Illustrator. He endeavors to help civic institutions become more effective, citizen-centered, innovative, and equitable. He is currently the Chief People Officer for the Illinois Department of Human Services. Previously, he worked as their Operations Program Manager (BizOps & Service Design), where he drove strategy, operations, design, and community-focused projects deemed critical by the Secretary and Assistant Secretary of Operations. He’s also Adjunct Professor of Social Design at Loyola University Chicago, and outside of work his projects include Distributive Designers Project (schex.design) and the Racial DeckEquity Cardset found on his Etsy shop schexdesign. Alvin lives in Chicago.

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  Julius Tapper

  Human-Centered Design and Innovation Consultant

  2021 Design for Social Impact Jury Member

  Julius Tapper is an innovation strategist working to redesign systems to value equity, inclusion, culture and prosperity. Julius has over a decade of professional experience spanning product and experience innovation, customer strategy, and social impact. Julius has led project teams across strategy and creative, for organizations including the UN, American Express, and UBS.
  
  Julius leads equity-centered design initiatives at Doblin, Deloitte’s human-centered design and innovation consulting practice. Prior to consulting, Julius worked at TD Bank, founding their impact investing and social finance program and issuing TD’s first Green Bond. Julius earned an MBA from MIT, an MPA from Harvard, and a BCom from the University of Toronto.

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  Tariq Dixon

  Co-founder, TRNK NYC

  2021 Furniture & Lighting Jury Captain

  Tariq Dixon founded TRNK in 2013 as a destination for fellow design enthusiasts seeking rarefied products in a more approachable setting. A creative strategist and product designer, he’s motivated by the role designed environments play in shaping our interactions, memories, and experiences. His work has been featured in NY Times, The Wall Street Journal, and New York Magazine, to name a few. Tariq is originally from Baltimore, a graduate of Harvard College, and has called New York City home for more than ten years.

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  Jillian Choi

  Director of Global Exhibitions, Design Miami

  2021 Furniture & Lighting Jury Member

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  Éva Goicochea

  Founder and CEO, Maude

  2021 Furniture & Lighting Jury Member

  Éva Goicochea spent her early career as a legislative aide in healthcare then 10+ years in ecommerce and digital strategy working with Squarespace, adidas, and Everlane. She co-founded her first company, Tinker Watches, in 2015. Converging her passion for healthcare and brand, she launched maude, an inclusive modern sexual wellness company in 2018. To-date, she's one of only 20 Latinx women to raise over $4 million and was voted Entrepreneur's 2019 100 Most Powerful Women, WWD's 60 Power Players in Healthy and Beauty, and Fast Company's 2021 Next 1000. In 2020, she joined the board of Peer Health Exchange.

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  Josh Itiola

  Designer and Planner, Vitsoe

  2021 Furniture & Lighting Jury Member