Jury Alumni

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  Rotimi Solola

  Founder, SO Dsgn

  2023 Home & Living Jury Captain

  Rotimi Solola is an award-winning industrial designer and the founding partner of SO Dsgn, a Chicago-based creative agency focused on story-driven brand and industrial design. In addition, Solola is an educator, having taught at Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Chicago, he values mentorship, community, and design education. Prior to his current roles, Solola worked as a member of Motorola’s Consumer Experience Design team where he acquired much of his knowledge of bringing products to market. Solola stays involved with the design community by giving public lectures, judging design competitions, and mentoring students, and young professionals.

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  Kirsten Southwell

  Service Design Lead, Fjord, part of Accenture Interactive

  2022 Service Design Jury Captain

  After earning her Bachelors in Graphic Design from North Carolina State University, Kirsten started her career as an Experience Designer at Second Story Interactive Studios where she did work for cultural clients including the World of Coca-Cola, the College Football Hall of Fame, and the National Archives. She then moved in-house to the Art Institute of Chicago as one of the founding members of the Experience Design studio, initially recruited to lead the strategy and discovery work for the website redesign. Kirsten eventually became Creative Director, Visual Design where she led all visual design and design strategy work in the digital, print, brand, and environmental workstreams. After six years at the museum, she joined Fjord's midwest team to expand her service design capabilities. Outside of work, Kirsten is passionate about her art practice, rockhounding, birding, and cultivating a native prairie landscape in her backyard.

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  Omari Souza

  Assistant Professor, Communication Design, Texas State University

  2022 Design Education Initiative Jury Member

  Omari Souza is an assistant professor in the Communication Design program at Texas State University. He is the organizer of the State of Black Design Conference (online, April 2021). He previously organized and hosted a multipanel event titled "The State of Black Design" (online, Sept. 2020), which drew a live audience of 2,071 — the second-largest Livestream audience for an educational event in Texas State's history.
  
  Omari is a first-generation American of Jamaican descent, raised in the Bronx, New York. Before arriving at Texas State, he gained work experience with companies and institutions such asVIBEmagazine, the buffalo News, CBS Radio, and Case Western Reserve University. He earned a BFA in Digital Media from Cleveland Institute of Art and an MFA in Design from Kent State University. Omari's research explores the idea of perceptions and how visual narratives influence culture — how we view ourselves and others around us.

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  Ian Spalter

  UX Lead and Manager, YouTube

  2015 Interaction Jury Member

  Ian Spalter is a UX lead & Manager at Youtube

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  Christopher Specce

  Independent Designer & Professor, Rhode Island School of Design

  2018 Furniture & Lighting Jury Member

  Christopher Specce is a designer and teacher working in Providence, Rhode Island. His practice spans from commercially oriented product design to creating experimental, one a kind of objects. In addition to serving as associate professor in the Department of Furniture Design at Rhode Island School of Design, his professional experiences include projects across the furniture and consumer product industries. Prior to joining the full-time faculty at RISD, he was lead designer at the consultancy Observatory, where he contributed to projects for clients including Herman Miller and P&G.
  
  With a belief that designed objects make an important contribution to culture, he explores the various ways that designers can embed objects with meaning. His studio practice features extensive use of digital design and fabrication tools alongside hands-on work with materials to create works that are at once mundane, delightful, modest, and forthright.

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  Joe Speicher

  Executive Director, AutoDesk Foundation

  2017 Design for Social Impact Jury Captain

  Joe Speicher is the Executive Director of the Autodesk Foundation. Under his leadership, the Foundation supports the people and organizations designing and engineering high-impact solutions to the world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges. Prior to joining Autodesk, Speicher was on the founding team of Living Goods, where he spent six years leading operations for the global health organization. He began his career in the banking and finance sector, working with Deutsche Bank and Cambridge Associates. He then spent three years in the Peace Corps in the Philippines and has worked as a consultant for the Economist Intelligence Unit, the World Bank and Google.org. He earned a Masters degree in Development Economics from Columbia University and holds a Bachelors of Science degree from Washington and Lee University.

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  Srini Srinivasan

  President and CEO, Lumium, LUMIUM Design, Inc.

  2016 Design Education Initiative Jury Member

  Srini Srinivasan is a highly accomplished entrepreneur in creative design and technology development, with over 20 years of work experience in the Silicon Valley, United States. As a highly networked and connected person, Srini has developed business successfully across the globe for the past two decades with F-500 companies. Srini has successfully raised capital from leading VCs in the Silicon Valley and enjoys being in Start-ups with his broad set of skills & global customer experience.
  
  Srini is an avid global traveller and enjoys visiting various locations around the globe and meeting people. He loves to play golf and follows several major sports like Soccer, Golf, basketball & Cricket.

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  Steve Starobinsky

  SVP Trends & New Markets, Gel Blaster

  2024 Toys & Play Jury Member

  A veteran of the toy industry of over 20 years. Selling retailers in all sectors in North America with a focus on trend writing a trend forecasting. My last two projects were launching MIND THE GAP, a game that was acquired by Spin Master and most recently Gel Blaster - one of the fastest growing toy companies in North America!

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  Astrid Stavro

  Partner & Creative Director, Atlas

  2015 Visual Communication Jury Captain

  Astrid Stavro graduated with a First Class Certificate from Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design and with Distinction from The Royal College of Art in London. In 2004 she returned to her native land of Spain to start her own design practice in Barcelona. Astrid Stavro's strongly rooted conceptual solutions and distinctive typographic approach quickly won international critical acclaim. Her work has been recognized nationally and internationally with over 150 highly acclaimed creative awards including D&AD, The Annual (Creative Review), Design Week Awards, The International Society of Typographic Designers and Art Directors Club of New York. She is a recurrent jury member in design competitions and lectures in design conferences worldwide. Stavro writes for various design journals and is currently the Art Director as well as a contributing editor of Elephant magazine.

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  Max Steffen

  Global Design Director, Equipment and Accessories, The North Face

  2020 Sports & Recreation Jury Captain

  Max is the Global Design Director for Equipment and Accessories at The North Face with whom he recently transitioned from the San Francisco Bay Area to Denver, Colorado. Prior to his move to the United States, Max led his industrial design consultancy in Brussels, Belgium. When he’s not exploring the outdoors, he is seeking strategic design solutions that combine the functional world of industrial design with the emotional world of contemporary aesthetics.

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  Michael Steiner

  Senior Designer, Infrastructure & Charging, JUMP Hardware

  2019 Transportation Jury Member

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  Jennifer Sterling

  Founder & Creative Director, Jennifer Sterling Design

  2023 Visual Communication Jury Member

  Founder of Sterling Design in 1996, Jennifer is a creative director, designer, animator typographer, illustrator, photographer, and educator. Her work is part the permanent collections of The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Library of Congress, Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Museum Fur Kunst Und Gewerbe, Hamburg and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art hosted a three-month solo show entitled "Jennifer Sterling: Selections from the Permanent Collection of Architecture and Design". The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museums Triennial Exhibit showcased the creative work of 83 designers and companies including Jennifer Sterling, Apple, Nike, and Martha Stewart.
  Her work has been featured in over 180 magazine and book articles, Graphis Magazine named her "One of the Top Ten Designers in the World." GD:USA Magazine named her one of the "Twelve Designers to Change Design into the Millennium". Clients and projects include creating an interactive online design to promote the worldwide distribution of aids awareness and medical distribution to third world countries for Yahoo Inc. as well as creating the worldwide brand "Vital Voices" for Hillary Clinton and Madeleine Albright. In 2016 she created campaign collateral for Hillary Clinton's 2016 Presidential Campaign. Jennifer has served as an adjunct professor at CCA (the California College of the Arts / San Francisco), AAU (Academy of Art University / San Francisco) and SVA (School of Visual Arts / New York).
  

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  Cristie Stevens

  Art Director & Editor, Studio A/C

  2019 Packaging Jury Member

  Cristie Stevens is a Los Angeles based designer, art director and editor of Studio A/C; a curated online platform showcasing the world's most beautiful branding, print, and packaging design. Cristie also heads up Alternating Current; a design studio specializing in creating and elevating brands through strategically-led visual identity, packaging, and digital design.

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  Marquise Stillwell

  Founder and Principal, openbox

  2019 Design for Social Impact Jury Member

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  Eric Stoddard

  Design Manager, Ford Motor Company

  2015 Transportation Jury Member

  Eric Stoddard is an accomplished automotive, transportation and product designer, with 17 years experience at major automotive OEMs including Ford, Hyundai and Chrysler.At Ford, Eric is responsible for mid-size passenger car exterior design, including Taurus and Fusion. He played a key role in establishing an all-new advanced design team in Detroit. Advanced programs include the next generation Fiesta, Focus, Mustang, Expedition and Navigator.At Hyundai, production automotive designs included the 2013 Santa Fe, 2011 Elantra, Genesis Coupe, Tucson, Equus, HCD9 Talus concept (2006), and 2007 Elantra. At Chrysler he conceived and led the exterior design of the Crossfire (concept and production), Pacifica and the Dodge SRT-4. In addition to his automotive work, Eric consults in product design as founder of SpeedStudio Design. He has a passion for bicycle design and alternative transportation, having won awards for bicycle design concepts at Red Dot and the Taipei International Bicycle Show. He actively participates in design education, having taught courses and held demos at Cleveland Institute of Art, College for Creative Studies, Lawrence Technological University and Art Center College of Design. Eric holds Bachelor Fine Art from Cleveland Institute of Art, Class of 1998.

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  Daniel Stromborg

  Product Development Design Director, Gensler

  2023 Furniture & Lighting Jury Member

  As Product Development Design Director for Gensler, Daniel applies his insights and industry experience to inspire design teams to translate Gensler’s voice and vision into tangible products for workplace and lifestyle environments. Partnering with manufacturers, his team creates touchpoints that expand the experience for which clients rely upon Gensler. He previously led design teams on projects with Arper, Andreu World, Devon&Devon, Elizabeth Arden, Emser, Estel, Fantoni, Gandia Blasco, Knoll, Muraflex, OXO, Targetti, Zumtobel, and many others.
  
  Daniel’s career began with digital imaging pioneer April Greiman, focusing on brand-based design and conceptual work. From there, he worked with legendary product designers Richard Holbrook and Don Chadwick until eventually striking out on his own. Daniel joined Gensler in 2014.