Jury Alumni

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  Babitha George

  Partner, Quicksand

  2015 Design for Social Impact Jury Member

  Babitha George is a Partner at Quicksand and leads multiple innovation projects within Quicksand. Her prior work in education in India prompted her to actively think about the role of design thinking in social impact contexts, leading her to steer several of Quicksand's social innovation projects, especially in the use of technology in education and vocational training contexts, to improve learning outcomes and create more engaging & transformational learning environments. She is a management graduate from IIM Ahmedabad, prior to which she studied English, Journalism & Psychology and with this background, Babitha believes strongly in the strength of multi-disciplinary approaches. Her core skills are in design strategy and research as it pertains to conceptualizing products and services that promote sustainability and quality of life, especially for low income communities.Babitha is one of the co-founders of the UnBox Festival. She is also on the Advisory Board of the Victor Papanek Foundation and was recently featured in the British Council's 'Blurring the Lines' exhibition in London, as one of sixteen people from around the world who are reinventing creative exploration and participation in their respective communities.

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  Maria Guidice

  VP of Experience Design, Autodesk

  2016 Design for Social Impact Jury Member

  Innovator, artist, protagonist, and positive provocateur, Maria has pursued a vision of intelligent, elegant, people-centered design throughout her professional life. Her grasp of the pragmatic, the authentic, and the essential have kept her at the forefront of design and business for over 25 years.
  
  Under Maria’s leadership, Hot Studio, the experience design firm she founded in 1997, grew into a full-service creative agency with an impressive list of Fortune 500 clients. In March 2013, Facebook acquired the talent behind Hot Studio. In 2015, she joined Autodesk as VP, Experience Design. Her latest book, Rise of the DEO: Leadership by Design, is published by New Riders. Maria is an AIGA Design Fellow. She has spoken at conferences all over the world and currently serves as an adjunct professor and trustee at California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Maria is a mom to two amazing teenagers, and just recently, was ordained as a Minister at the Universal Life Church.

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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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  Rebecca Hui

  Founder, Roots Studio

  2020 Design for Social Impact Jury Captain

  Rebecca is a designer and social entrepreneur who has spent nearly a decade elevating the brilliance of overlooked artists to the global limelight. She started Roots Studio, which digitizes indigenous art into an online library for licensing into fashion and home, with returns of 5 - 20x the status quo price. Her work has ranged from turning heritage tattoos into animations, to producing thousands of notebooks from a scroll painting tradition with fewer than 7 artists left. She has been recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneur, Echoing Green Fellow, a US Department of State Innovation Delegate, and an Unreasonable Group Fellow. Her work has been written in PBS, TechCrunch, WGSN, MIT Technology Review, and Stanford Social Innovation Review. Rebecca also advises on cultural restoration for post disaster regions and mapping technology with the World Bank and the United Nations. She started her journey as a Fulbright Scholar and National Geographic Explorer on the project, "The Secret Life of Urban Animals".

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  Bryan Lee Jr.

  Founder, Colloqate

  2019 Design for Social Impact Jury Captain

  Bryan is an Architect, artist, designer, educator, and Design Justice Advocate. He is the founder/Design Director Colloqate Design in New Orleans LA, a nonprofit multidisciplinary design practice dedicated to expanding community access to design and creating spaces of racial, social and cultural equity.

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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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  Daanish Masood

  Innovation, Dept of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, United Nations

  2020 Design for Social Impact Jury Member

  Daanish Masood Alavi is an investigator at BeAnotherLab, a transnational interdisciplinary group that uses art, science, and technology to promote empathy and perspective taking among diverse communities; thereby facilitating shared civic action across identity fault lines. The group uses virtual reality and techniques derived from cognitive science research in developing critical applications in art, scientific research, social projects, healthcare and education, putting a strong emphasis on the impact of the work in people’s lives. BeAnotherLab’s work is based on an inclusive and distributed model of action-research and collaborative design. From 2014-2015, Daanish was a research affiliate at MIT’s Arts, Culture, and Technology program, which enlists science and technology in cultural production, critique, and dissemination at the civic scale.
  
  Daanish also serves at the United Nation’s Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, where he co-leads the Innovation Team, which focuses on collaboratively using human centered design, new tools and technology (AI and Machine Learning, satellite imagery, XR) to meet on-the-ground needs of UN peacemakers.

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  Jason Mayden

  CEO + Co-Founder, Super Heroic Inc.

  2017 Design for Social Impact Jury Member

  In his previous role at Nike, Jason oversaw the design and execution of all conceptual products, data driven innovations and inline lifestyle and performance product for Jordan Brand, as the Senior Global Design Director. During his 13+ year career at Nike, Mayden led and contributed to the creation of innovative sport performances products for athletes and cultural icons such as Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Derek Jeter, and Michael Jordan.
  
  In 2011, Mayden successfully received his Master’s in General Management and Social Innovation from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business and shortly there after he returned to Nike as the Global Director of Innovation for Nike Digital Sport where he was responsible for the strategic investigation of
  new technologies and services, such as the Nike Fuel Band.
  
  He is now at Accel assisting with the continuous development of Accel’s brand position amongst the global community of entrepreneurs while working with portfolio companies on deepening and extending their knowledge and ability to create cultures of curiosity. Moreover, he is also an advisor of Slyce, a company created by fellow Nike alum Bryant Barr and NBA Superstar Stephen Curry, a platform focused on creating a new paradigm at the intersection of campaign workflow planning and brand-to-influencer content management. Lastly, is the CEO and Co-Founder of Super Heroic a business focused on provided quality play-performance footwear, apparel and technology for elementary school aged children.

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  Indya McGuffin

  Design Operations Lead, Netflix

  2024 Design for Social Impact Jury Member

  Originally from Chicago, Indya McGuffin is a designer, storyteller, and creative strategist currently based in Oakland, California. Indya has dedicated her career to empowering Black creatives, entrepreneurs, and those envisioning more equitable futures through design.
  
  Inspired by her self-designed major at Stanford University, she co-founded PURSUIT Design, a studio that leveraged visual storytelling and creative strategy to help people understand themselves and others. Indya has since returned to Stanford to teach "Print on Purpose," a design course investigating how social justice is imprinted in our local, national, and global consciousness.
  
  In her current role as a Design Operations Lead at Netflix, Indya works with the Design Systems team, ensuring that their work effectively supports the company's creative vision.
  
  When Indya isn't designing, she is competing with her friends to spot music samples, attempting to replicate her mom's recipes, and exploring the spaces around her on foot.

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  Mari Nakano

  Social Designer, Systems Strategist & Educator

  2023 Design for Social Impact Jury Member

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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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  Emily Pilloton

  Founder, Project H

  2016 Design for Social Impact Jury Captain

  Emily Pilloton is the founder of the nonprofit Project H Design. Since 2008, she has run Project H and worked with young people ages 9-18 to bring the power of design and building to schools and communities. Emily is trained as an architect with degrees from UC Berkeley and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, but found that she is physically incapable of working in an office or for a boss and much prefers the creative chaos of a public school classroom filled with tools and welding equipment. Project H Design was born out of the hope that authentic, on-the-ground, face-to-face work with young people could transform what it means to be a design professional, what it means to learn in the 21st century, and what it means to get dirty and physically build solutions for your community.
  
  Specifically, Emily launched 2 Project H programs: Studio H, an in-school design/build curriculum, and Camp H, an after-school and summer building camp for young girls ages 9-13. Exploring the intersection of science, art, math, and community development, Emily has led Project H youth in the design and construction of an award-winning 2,000-square-foot farmers market structure, chicken coops, playgrounds, their own school library, microhomes for the homeless, laser-etched skateboards, and welded steel public sculpture.
  
  Emily believes that by giving youth, particularly girls and students of color, the skills to design and build their wildest ideas, we can support the next generation of creative, confident changemakers. Her ideas and work have made their way to the TED Stage, The Colbert Report, the New York Times, and more. Her work is the subject of the full-length documentary If You Build It. She is the author of two books, Design Revolution: 100 Products that Empower People, and Tell Them I Built This: Transforming Schools, Communities, and Lives with Design-Based Education. Emily is also a Visiting Professor in the Department of Design at UC Davis.

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  Jennifer Rittner

  Principal, Content Matters

  2018 Design for Social Impact Jury Captain

  Jennifer is a writer, educator and communications strategist. Her consulting firm, Content Matters, helps creative businesses thrive by defining their voice and learning how to communicate effectively with diverse audiences. Prior to consulting, Jennifer worked for Pentagram, Columbia CNMTL and the AIGA. She has been published in The New York Times, Core77, Against the Grain, as well as a variety of trade publications. As an educator Jennifer led Art Access II, an initiative designed to increase museum attendance among under-served communities through education and community outreach. She has taught at Parsons and FIT, and is currently on faculty in the SVA Products of Design program where she teaches design and social impact.

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  Pascale Sablan

  Associate Principal, Adjaye Associates

  2019 Design for Social Impact Jury Member

  Pascale Sablan, AIA, NOMA, LEED AP, With over eleven years of experience, she has been on the design team for a variety of mixed-use, commercial, cultural & residential projects in the U.S., Saudi Arabia, India, Azerbaijan, Japan, & UAE. Pascale is the 315th living African American female architect in the United States to attain her architectural license.
  
  She is the Founder and Executive Director of Beyond the Built Environment, LLC, positioned to uniquely address the inequitable disparities in architecture by providing a holistic platform aimed to support numerous stages of the architecture pipeline. Beyond the Built Environment, elevates the identities and contributions of minority architects and designers through exhibitions, curated lectures, and documentaries that testify to the provided value of their built work and its spatial impact. Pascale was recently appointed to American Institute of Architects New York Board of Director and American Institute of Architects National Strategic Planning Committee Member to set a 2020-2024 strategic plan for the organization.
  
  She has been recognized for her contributions to the industry with several awards, including the 2018 Pratt Alumni Achievement Award, Emerging New York Architect Merit Award and the NOMA Prize for Excellence in Design. Pascale was selected as one of 2018 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Young Architects Award Recipient and was featured in the Council of Tall Building & Urban Habitat Research Paper, in the same company as Jeanne Gang and Zaha Hadid. She was named Building Design + Construction 40 Under 40 and was featured on the Cover of the September 2017 issue of their magazine.

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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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  Fabio Sergio

  Vice President of Design, frog design

  2017 Design for Social Impact Jury Member

  Fabio Sergio is Vice President of Design at frog, the global design and innovation firm.
  
  He works across a wide spectrum of industries and sectors, with global leaders such as Vodafone, GE, HP, LGE, BBC, J&J, Swisscom, Novartis, Merck, UNICEF, The Red Cross and the World Economic Forum. Fabio is part of frog's global Design Leadership team, the head of frog's Social Impact Design practice, one of the firm's healthcare experts and one of its User Experience Strategy leads. He helps to advance frog's capabilities, processes and methodologies.
  
  Fabio is passionate about exploring areas at the intersection of design, technology and human aspirations, wrapping business scenarios around people's desires and dreams.
  
  He often speaks at worldwide events, including The Economist Technology Frontiers, The Guardian Mobile Summit, The Aspen Design Summit, SXSW, The Unicef Innovation Summit, Stanford Mobile Health, NEXT Berlin, LIFT Geneva. He is a professor at Politecnico di Milano, and a guest lecturer at Domus Academy, Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design and SUPSI's Master of Advanced Studies in Interaction Design.