Jury Alumni

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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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  Bastian Albinus

  Sr Industrial Design Manager, ASUS Computers

  2026 Consumer Technology Jury Member

  Bastian is an internationally experienced Industrial Designer and Innovation Strategist leading design development across Europe, Asia, and the United States.
  
  With experience working in Fortune 500, start=up, and international agency environments he has developed a wide variety of award winning Consumer electronics, Home Appliances, and Tech Products. His work sits at the intersection of human-centered design, advanced product engineering, and brand-defining aesthetics, with a consistent focus on translating strategy into tangible experiences and meaningful products.
  
  Starting out with an education in Graphic Design and later expanding into a degree in Industrial Design at the University of Wuppertal in Germany, he is driven by a belief that design is the intersection of emotion and function.
  
  Designing experiences is the chance to shape behavior, culture, and our every day lives - and that lasting design value emerges when craft, technology, and human insight align.

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  Diana Alcausin

  Associate Creative Director, WeTransfer Advertising Studio

  2021 Visual Communication Jury Member

  D Alcausin is the Associate Creative Director of the WeTransfer Advertising Studio.
  
  She leads a team of talented creatives who design award winning immersive, interactive digital ads viewed by a global audience of 60 million users a month. Collaborating with the world's leading brands, Diana oversees the advertising platform's evolution into a unique digital space at the forefront of creative innovation.
  
  With a grounding in commercial strategy, Diana bridges the gap between business and design with an approach that balances strategic creative execution with business goals.

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  Alex Alexiev

  Automotive Designer, McLaren

  2016 Transportation & Mobility Jury Member

  Alex is a designer at McLaren Automotive in the UK since 2013. His work at McLaren includes, production, advanced and bespoke customer projects through McLaren Special Operations.
  
  Prior to joining McLaren he worked with a So-cal EV start-up to develop an electric platform for limited production in Newport Beach. He has worked in a variety of studios such as Polaris Industries, Volvo (VMCC), Toyota ADV Design (Tokyo), and Misha Design (LA) during his studies.
  Alex is a Graduate with Honors (12’) of Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, where most of the world’s top car designers are trained. Some of his work can be seen in the Petersen Automotive Museum, within the design process showcase. In addition to his professional activities, Alex is a outdoor fanatic, tennis player, and dedicated car enthusiast.

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  Laura Allen

  Senior Lecturer, Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London

  2015 Built Environment Jury Captain

  Mark Smout and Laura Allen are Senior Lecturers at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. Their work takes two routes, architectural competitions, where the particular rigor of the competition brief, site and program provide the basis for new investigations and, conceptual design projects which test out the agenda and methodology of the design research practice. They focus on the dynamic relationship between the natural and the man made and how this can be revealed to enhance the experience of the architectural landscape.

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  Michel Alvarez

  Global Design Manager, Drinkfinity

  2019 Consumer Technology Jury Member

  Michel is the Global Design Manager at Drinkfinity and has worked as a designer since 2003. He has worked at various agencies and companies all over the country, from Cleveland to Boston, from San Francisco to Miami.

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  Taamrat Amaize

  Chief Strategy Officer, Collins

  2024 Branding & Identity Jury Captain, 2024 Visual Communication Jury Captain

  I'm a strategist who doesn't believe in conned thinking.
  I like using provocative approaches and out-of-category parallels to arrive at solutions. I live for problem-solving and apply that kind of critical thinking to both business and brand challenges.
  My experience with established brand behemoths and scrappy start-ups— from technology to CPG, B2B and B2C—has given me an invaluable perspective.

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  Gail Anderson

  Chair of BFA Design and Advertising, School of Visual Arts

  2022 Packaging Jury Member

  Gail Anderson is an NYC-based designer, educator, and writer. She is Chair of BFA Design and BFA Advertising at the School of Visual Arts and the Creative Director at Visual Arts Press. Anderson has served as senior art director at Rolling Stone, creative director of design at SpotCo, and as a designer at The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine and Vintage Books. She has taught at SVA for thirty years and has coauthored 15 books on design, typography, and illustration with the fabulous Steven Heller. Anderson serves on the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee for the US Postal Service and the advisory boards of Poster House and The One Club for Creativity. She is an AIGA Medalist and the 2018 recipient of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Lifetime Achievement Award for Design. Her work is represented in the Library of Congress’s permanent collections, the Milton Glaser Design Archives, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

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  Gretchen Anderson

  Head of Design, PG&E

  2018 Commerical & Industrial Equipment Jury Member

  Gretchen spent the first part of her career in design consulting for firms like frog, Cooper, and LUNAR. Currently, she is head of design at PG&E, California’s largest energy company where she’s helping to build the energy company of the future. Previously, she led the design of the hardware and software of a next-generation surgical system and was VP of Product at GreatSchools.org.
  
  Gretchen is a frequent speaker on design topics including the changing role of design in the age of artificial intelligence and bridging physical and digital design. Gretchen has also taught design methods and design thinking in a variety of settings including Stanford and UC Berkeley.
  
  Her past clients include Virgin Records, Samsung, Johnson & Johnson, and Starbucks. Gretchen is a Bay Area native who left only long enough to get a bachelor’s degree from Harvard in History & Literature.

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  Pablo Andrés Pedrosa

  Play Designer, Rosan Bosch Studio

  2026 Toys & Play Jury Member

  Pablo Andrés Pedrosa is a Play Designer at Rosan Bosch Studio, recognized for his expertise in industrial and product design, with a specialized focus on designing for play. He holds a Master’s degree in Design for Play and brings an innovative approach to creating learning environments that prioritize social, sustainable, and conceptual design principles. At Rosan Bosch Studio, Pablo has contributed to a range of international projects, developing holistic learning landscapes that integrate play as a core element of educational transformation.
  
  In his professional journey, Pablo has combined his background in product and graphic design with hands-on experience in projects that activate curiosity and movement.
  
  Prior to joining Rosan Bosch Studio, he held the position of Senior Product Designer at Blash Design and has contributed to creative endeavors in both educational and play-centric organizations, including collaborations with The LEGO Group.
  
  His multidisciplinary approach supports the studio’s mission to create adaptive spaces that foster engagement, well-being, and discovery for learners of all ages.
  
  Pablo’s design philosophy centers on the belief that play and creativity are fundamental to meaningful experiences and growth. As a result, he is deeply involved in developing spaces and tools that not only facilitate learning but also inspire agency and joy in users.

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  Stephan Ango

  Co-founder, Lumi

  2021 Packaging Jury Member

  Stephan Ango is the co-founder of Lumi, the marketplace that helps brands find and work with packaging factories. Lumi enables seamless collaboration between brands and suppliers to deliver sustainable, memorable and cost-effective packaging.
  
  Stephan also hosts the Well Made podcast, highlighting the people and ideas that are shaping our patterns of consumption for the better.

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  Ashley Anson

  Senior Design Director of Advanced Concepts Apparel, Adidas

  2021 Sports & Recreation Jury Member

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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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  Luis Arnal

  President and Founder, INSITUM

  2015 Service Design Jury Member

  Luis is President and Founder of INSITUM, a leading innovation consulting firm. He co-founded INSITUM in 2002 and today has more than 110 employees and offices in Mexico, Brazil, Spain, Colombia, Argentina, Peru and the United States. INSITUM helps the biggest companies in the world create an innovation culture by envisioning new products, developing new services and designing better experiences. He has been involved in more than 1000 innovation projects for a wide variety of sectors. Before founding INSITUM he worked as a strategy consultant for DiamondCluster in Barcelona and E-Lab (now Sapient) in Chicago.Luis holds a bachelor's in Industrial Design and a Master's degree in Innovation Planning from the Institute of Design, IIT in Chicago. He is a prolific speaker a member of the committee for various conferences on innovation and research.

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  John and Wonhee Arndt

  Partners, Studio Gorm

  2018 Furniture & Lighting Jury Captain

  Studio Gorm was founded in 2007 by John Arndt and Wonhee Jeong Arndt.
  
  As professors in the Product Design department at the University of Oregon, they apply their insightful academic research on culture, history and technology to refocus modern design through the prism of time, exploring the transformation of objects and ideas as they evolve to fit the demands and expectations of modern life.
  
  As designers of functional objects, they draw from their background in sculpture and craft to create works that balance function and aesthetics. Their methods are deeply rooted in the act of physical making where an object’s true form evolves out of an experimental constructive approach to design.