Jury Alumni

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  Kotchakorn Voraakhom

  Founder and CEO, Porous City Network

  2020 Design for Social Impact Jury Member

  Kotchakorn Voraakhom is a landscape architect from Thailand who works on building productive green public spaces that tackle climate change in urban dense areas and vulnerable communities. She created the first critical green infrastructure for Bangkok, the Chulalongkorn Centenary Park, and is currently planning the opening of a 36-acre urban farm rooftop featuring the biggest urban farming green roof in Asia.
  
  Voraakhom was featured in the 2019 “TIME 100 Next” list as one of 15 leading women fighting against climate change and the “Green 30 for 2020” by Bloomberg. She is Chairwoman on the Landscape Architects Without Borders working group of the International Federation of Landscape Architects, Asia Pacific Region (IFLA APR).
  
  Voraakhom received her Master's in landscape architecture from Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. Currently she is also a TED Fellow and an Echoing Green Fellow.

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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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  Pradyumna Vyas

  Director, National Institute of Design

  2016 Design Education Initiative Jury Captain

  Pradyumna Vyas acquired a Masters in Industrial Design from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. In June 2010, Vyas was conferred with an honorary Master of Arts degree from the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham, United Kingdom in recognition of his contributions to design education and design promotion. Vyas has more than 30 years of professional and teaching experience in different spheres of design. Since the last 25 years, he has been associated with the National Institute of Design (NID) as a faculty in the Industrial Design discipline. In April 2009, he was appointed as the Director of the National Institute of Design.
  Prior to joining NID, Vyas acquired three years overseas experience at the Kilkenny Design Centre, Republic of Ireland.
  In July 2011, Vyas was given the award for his outstanding contribution to design education at the second edition of Asia’s Best B School Award that was held at Singapore. Vyas was invited as the jury member for the special awards screening panel at Good Design Award (G-Mark) by the Japan Institute of Design Promotion, Japan consequently in 2012, 2013 and 2014.He has been at the helm of design promotion events in India and has represented NID in various international and national events. He was elected as an ICSID (International Council of Societies of Industrial Design) Executive Board Member for 2009–11.
  In pursuance of the National Design Policy approved by the Cabinet in February 2007, an India Design Council was constituted in March 2009 and Mr Vyas has been nominated as its Member Secretary by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India. In July 2015, World Education Congress, 2015 conferred the award for Outstanding Contribution to Education to Mr. Vyas.

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  Barry Waddilove

  Head of Circular Economy & Partnerships, Electrolux Group

  2024 Sustainability Jury Member

  Barry Waddilove joined Electrolux Group in 2017. He first led the company’s North American design team and joined the global sustainability leadership team in early 2022 to oversee partnerships and collaborations. In early 2023, he became Head of Circular Economy and Partnerships. In this expanded role, Barry remains responsible for supporting partnerships while leading new work to develop Electrolux Group’s Circular Economy approach and priorities.
  
  Barry has over 30 years experience in design and sustainability, working with brands and organizations across 25 countries. During various roles across global corporates, he has developed deep knowledge of innovation processes and business model development. His academic research for the Ellen MacArthur Foundation explored the role of system thinking in circular design.
  He holds an MDes in Design and Innovation for Sustainability from Cranfield University and is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
  
  Barry is British and lives with his family just north of London, UK.

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  Robert Walker

  Director of Design, Advanced Mobility and Experience Studio (AMES), General Motors

  2022 Transportation Jury Member

  Robert Walker is a global automotive design and team leader. He has worked in the automotive design industry for 24 years as a designer, design manager, chief designer, and design director within multiple global automakers.
  
  Walker is currently the Director of Design of the Advanced Mobility and Experience Design Studio at General Motors Design Center, based in Warren, Michigan. As a global advanced design leader, he guides his team in developing what’s next - future automotive and new mobility projects positioned far outside the scope of existing vehicle programs. Prior to joining GM, Walker held the position of Director of Product Design at D-Ford, Ford’s Global Human-centered Design & Innovation LAB, leading the team in both physical and digital product/vehicle design. They challenged assumptions and questioned the status quo, translating human insights into near and far product concepts for the Ford and Lincoln brands.
  
  He also loves mentoring the next generation of automotive designers. As an adjunct professor at the College for Creative Studies (CCS), he teaches multiple automotive/new mobility and design theory courses.

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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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  Shu Wei

  Founder, ZaoZuo

  2016 Furniture & Lighting Jury Member

  Shuwei was born in 1981 in China. She studied MBA at Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 2007-2009. As a serial entrepreneur, she has 12 years intensive experience of marketing, design, product, technology and investment. In 2014, she founded Zaozuo, a lifestyle brand that combines global design and domestic manufacturing to present the decent urban lifestyle for new Chinese middle-class.

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  Mike Weikert

  Director & Founder, Center for Social Design, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA)

  2015 Design Education Initiative Jury Captain

  Mike Weikert is founding director of the Center for Social Design and Master of Arts in Social Design at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). In 2008, he established MICA's Center for Design Practice, a multi-disciplinary, project-based studio bringing together students and outside partners to collaborate on innovative solutions to social problems. Previously, he served as co-chair of the graphic design department at MICA, partner/creative director at Atlanta-based Iconologic, and as a design consultant to the International Olympic Committee. In 2011, he was nominated for the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award and in 2014, received the Ashoka U-Cordes Innovation Award.

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  Denis Weil

  Interim Chief Innovation Officer, Sanergy

  2016 Strategy & Research Jury Member

  Denis Weil is an Innovation Executive, Change Leader and “Social Creative” focused on propelling the impact of design and innovation in the social sector. As one of the private sector pioneers and thought-leaders in the field of service design, Denis is now applying his innovation leadership to social and civic innovation advising social and public organizations on how to reach impact at scale. He is currently a Senior Advisor for Innovation and New Services for Year Up, the leading workforce development social enterprise, and an Advisor for the Government Innovation team at Bloomberg Philanthropies.
  
  Denis’ passion is to advance the practice and impact of Design. In 2015 Denis was an Advanced Leadership Fellow at Harvard University where he researched new ways to cross-pollinate the practices of Social Science and Design. A long-time adjunct professor at the Institute of Design at IIT in Chicago, Denis teaches classes in Service Design and Social Innovation. He is also a frequent speaker at innovation and design conferences and his viewpoints about the value of design for innovation have been published in ID magazine and Business Week.

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  Sabina Weiss

  Designer and Researcher, Special Projects

  2023 Consumer Technology Jury Captain

  Sabina Weiss is an innovation designer focusing on products that help to channel meaningful experiences.
  
  Currently part of Special Projects, award winning innovation studio on a mission to enhance the unquantifiable aspects of life: empathy, wellbeing, delight, with meaningful design and invention.
  Working with brave companies to bring clarity to complex problems, discover new opportunities and transform them into tomorrow’s most loved customer experiences and products.
  
  Through her career, Sabina has contributed to several complex projects – strategically bringing to life brand values, physical and digital assets for companies: Google, Sony, Graphcore, Rolls-Royce, Hyundai Kia, Microsoft, Sabi and Fortnum and Mason.
  
  Sabina holds Innovation Design Engineering MA Royal College of Art / MSc Imperial College London; where her major project was a hybrid craft-technology interface that has received several accolades and exhibition features including Victoria and Albert Museum, Barbican Centre, and Somerset House.

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  David Whetstone

  Design Director, Astro Studios

  2015 Consumer Product Jury Member

  David Whetstone is an industrial designer in San Francisco, CA, but his creativity comes from the basketball courts of Northeast Ohio where he discovered athletic sneakers and self expression on the court. He remembers observing the best players and taking particular interest in how they presented themselves through clothing, posture and speech. He trained himself to observe the details, understand what people really want and why those things fit with their particularly crafted lifestyle.This ability to connect with culture has stayed with him, and he has carefully crafted his industrial design career to design products that people wear and use as expression of self. His unique position as an industrial designer with passion to create fashion relevant pieces has allowed him to work with leading lifestyle brands like Nixon, Electric Visual, Nike, Incase, and The Art of Shaving. His work has been available to buy at big department stores like Nordstrom and Barneys New York to premier boutiques like Opening Ceremony and Colette.David Whetstone is currently a Design Director at Astro Studios in San Francisco, CA.

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  Christina White

  Head of UX, Google Sheets, Google

  2021 Interaction Jury Member

  Christina is currently at Google, leading the UX design team for Sheets and Apps Script. Prior to Google, she built the UX team for brand and digital agency Gin Lane, where she launched digital-first startups like sweetgreen and Harry’s. She’s also led creative departments at digital agencies SapientNitro and Huge, specializing in retail, health & beauty, & consumer products. Christina holds a BS of Industrial Design from Georgia Institute of Technology, where she first established her belief in ergonomics in that delightful design is achieved when the product naturally fits into the environment, not the other way around. She lives in NYC with her husband and kids Geneveive, William, and Henry.

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  Porter Whitmire

  Senior Director of Product Development & Innovation Management, Techtronic Industries

  2018 Open Design Jury Member

  Porter Whitmire has 20 years of product design, product development, and innovation management experience. Currently, he serves as the VP of Innovation and New Business Development at TTI Power Equipment. Porter has developed over 200 different products in many different categories, including power tools, lawn and garden products, electronic devices, lifestyle products, grills, and smartphone products and apps. In 2014, Porter founded the ION program at TTI as part of the company’s open innovation initiative. The Innovation Outreach Network seeks innovations from within TTI, from universities and private companies, and also the inventor community. When not innovating for TTI, Porter enjoys family time, mountain biking, and woodworking.

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  Clay Wiedemann

  Head of Design, Zocdoc

  2020 Health & Wellness Jury Member

  Clay has been working in design and research since late last century, having shifted over from film and cultural studies. He spent much of his early career at frog, working in interaction and design research. There, he focused on complex design systems, innovation methods, and prototyping, and taught prototyping at SVA's MFA in Interaction Design program.
  
  He left frog to build the interaction team at Smart Design, and spent many days in awe of the physical prototyping skills of the industrial design team.
  
  He now leads design at Zocdoc, a service that help people navigate tough healthcare choices by quickly connect them to the right care. He remains focused on user-centered design, and works to ensure that everyone at Zocdoc develops a deep understanding of the patients and providers they help. Throughout his design career he has rescued cats.

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  Dayn Wilberding

  Director of Design, Exploration, Sonos

  2024 Consumer Technology Jury Member

  Dual-decade champion of design innovation culture for multi-sensory scenery and visceral joy. Product leader from the explorer teams that built iconic physical product experiences like Jawbone hearables, Jawbone Jambox, Sonos Trueplay auto-tuning, Sonos Move, multimodal UI, ambient interaction, generative moodscapes, and over 50 patents for tomorrow's experiences.

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  Dayn Wilberding

  Director of Design, Exploration, Sonos

  2024 A/V & Photography Equipment Jury Member

  Dual-decade champion of design innovation culture for multi-sensory scenery and visceral joy. Product leader from the explorer teams that built iconic physical product experiences like Jawbone hearables, Jawbone Jambox, Sonos Trueplay auto-tuning, Sonos Move, multimodal UI, ambient interaction, generative moodscapes, and over 50 patents for tomorrow's experiences.