Jury Alumni

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  Phil Balagtas

  Experience Design Director, The Design Futures Initiative, McKinsey Design

  2019 Speculative Design Jury Member

  Phil has been a practicing visual & interaction designer since 2001 and has experience designing across a variety of devices and platforms within non-profit, retail, advertising, and enterprise software organizations. He is currently an Experience Design Director at McKinsey & Company working with a variety of industries to transform and enhance their digital businesses and strategies. He is also the founder and organizer of the Design Futures Initiative which organizes the international Speculative Futures meetups and the PRIMER conference in the US and Europe. An educator and futurist, his events bring together designers and futurists from all over the world to teach and share strategies for designing for the future and the ethical challenges around emerging technologies.

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  Timothy Bardlavens

  Product Design Manager, Facebook

  2020 Design Education Initiative Jury Member

  Timothy Bardlavens is a Product Design Manager at Facebook, a Cultural Strategist and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) consultant. At Facebook, Timothy supports Community Experiences within the Facebook App, leading teams focused on new Member Experiences and Ecosystem Growth. As a strategist, he specializes in Organizational Culture through the lens of Human-Centered Design, helping organization leaders develop people-centric strategies with clear, actionable steps to increase diversity, create more inclusive spaces and design more equitable systems. Timothy is also Co-Founder of the &Design Fellowship Program and an international speaker and facilitator.

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  Gem Barton

  Ms, Experimental Realism / Office for Speculative Spatial Design

  2024 Speculative Design Jury Member

  Gem is an author and senior academic specialising in the interrelations between human behaviour, speculation, and spatial design. Currently teaching at the Royal College of Art, she was awarded a coveted National Teaching Fellowship in 2019, is Senior Fellow of AdvanceHE, and founding chair of QuEAN - Queer Educators in Architecture Network. Gem’s work in the future(s) space comes to life through her advisory, research, teaching and leadership of superFUTURES at the RCA, her directorship of the Experimental Realism platform and consultation services offered through her Office for Speculative Spatial Design (O-SSD).

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  Sabiha Basrai

  Co-Owner, Design Action Collective

  2024 Design for Social Impact Jury Captain

  Sabiha Basrai is a co-owner of Design Action Collective — a worker-owned cooperative dedicated to serving social justice movements with art, graphic design, and web development. She is co-coordinator of the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, where she works with racial justice organizers on international solidarity campaigns. Sabiha is also part of the Center for Political Education advisory board, an affiliate trainer with Race Forward, and a faculty member in the University of San Francisco's Department of Art and Architecture.

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  Carl Bass

  Self-unemployed robot builder and former CEO, Autodesk, Parts & Labor

  2018 Open Design Jury Member

  Carl Bass serves on the boards of Autodesk, Built Robotics, Formlabs, Planet, Zendesk and Zoox and serves as a special adviser to the CEO of Alphabet. During his 24 year tenure at Autodesk, he held a series of executive positions including president and chief executive officer, chief technology officer and chief operating officer. Bass co-founded Ithaca Software, which was acquired by Autodesk in 1993. Bass also serves on the boards of directors of Zendesk Inc. and Planet; on the board of trustees of the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Art Center College of Design, and California College of the Arts; and on the advisory boards of Cornell Computing and Information Science, UC Berkeley School of Information, and UC Berkeley College of Engineering.
  
  He holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Cornell University. Bass spends his time exploring the intersection of art, robotics and machine learning

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  Kim Bates

  Chief Marketing Officer & Chief Futurist, LRXD

  2022 Packaging Jury Captain

  Kim is a marketing, communications, and innovation executive with 20+ years of experience driving profitable revenue growth, leading marketing and strategy departments on both the client and agency sides. As the CMO of Common Good, she led the creative agency’s brand, growth, thought leadership, and reputation initiatives. Kim was also the Chief Futurist at Faith Popcorn’s BrainReserve, a think tank with over 90% accuracy on predicting the future.
  
  As the leader of The FutureFactor Lab at Common Good, she worked with fortune 200 enterprises and start-ups to help predict, navigate and leverage the future to generate meaningful business transformation, creative innovation, incremental revenue and share growth initiatives.

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  Hanna Nova Beatrice

  Editor in Chief, Residence Magazine

  2016 Furniture & Lighting Jury Member

  Hanna Nova Beatrice is a design writer and Editor in Chief of Swedish title Residence and English language bookazine My Residence. She has been the Editor of a number of magazines, all focusing on design and interiors, as well as edited and written books on design, including the book Behind the Scenes in the Design industry. She regularly holds panel debates on design and have co-curated exhibitions such as 20 Designers at Biologiska (Stockholm 2011) and Norweigan Structure (Milan 2016).

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  Veronica Becchetti

  Co-Founder & Head of Production, Wild One

  2021 Personal Accessory Jury Captain

  Veronica oversees all aspects of product innovation, manufacturing and production at Wild One. Prior to joining the Wild One team, Veronica served as Director of Production at S’well, after joining as the company's 8th employee in 2014. Previously, she worked in manufacturing and product development at Target, William E. Connor and Gap. Veronica has a BFA in Retail Merchandising and Management from the University of Wisconsin - Stout, and lives in the East Village where she’s the proud aunt to many dogs.

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  Liliana Becerra

  Founder, STUDIO LILIANA BECERRA Inc.

  2021 Consumer Technology Jury Member

  Liliana is the founder of STUDIO LILIANA BECERRA Inc. a firm advising global companies on strategic design foresight and advanced CMF Design. Clients include AT&T, Simple Human, Sonos, Nestle & Lenovo. Her latest book, CMF Design is the first publication about the professional discipline of color material and finish design. She also an editorial contributor to design publications including Viewpoint Design and Viewpoint Color. She is an adjunct professor at Art Center College of Design and formerly, she served as the Head of Design Insights at Nokia where she led global, multi-disciplinary teams, trend research initiatives and key design strategies.

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  Katie Becker

  VP Creative, Arc'teryx

  2021 Sports & Recreation Jury Captain

  Katie Becker is the VP Creative at Arc’teryx, a global design company specializing in technical high-performance apparel and equipment. With over 25 years of design experience in the athletic and outdoor apparel industry, Katie is responsible for advanced apparel innovation and leads the global design team at Arc’teryx focused on pushing product into new territories. Prior to joining Arc’teryx, Katie served as Senior Design Director for adidas, where she helped build and grow the brand’s global design strategy. Katie has a strong background creating progressive and technical designs, having contributed to award-winning concepts for brands such as Merrell and Helly Hansen. Outside of the design center, Katie can be found skiing, hiking, exploring backroads with her family, paddle boarding, traveling, toting kids to sporting events and trying to train a puppy.

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  Perniclas Bedow

  Creative Director & Founder, Bedow

  2017 Visual Communication Jury Member

  Perniclas Bedow is the founder and creative director of Stockholm based design studio Bedow. The studio mainly works with branding, packaging and book design and for the last decade their work has been widely acknowledged around the world through books, lectures and exhibitions. Perniclas’ work has been awarded by Art Directors Club, Cannes Lions, D&AD and Epica Awards, to mention a few.

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  Tiffany Beers

  Head of Engineering, Gaming Audio, Sustainability & CMF, Logitech

  2023 Sports & Outdoors Jury Member

  Tiffany is a driven and curious innovator who brings game-changing products, experiences, systems, and strategies to life on behalf of the brands. Tiffany manages a large team of multidisciplinary engineering and Innovation professionals.
  
  Tiffany has 21 years of experience in the product & process innovation space including consumer goods (Nike, Saysh, Rubbermaid), Automotive (Tesla, amateur motorsports racing), and consumer electronics (Logitech G, Astro Gaming). She has been granted over 35 US patents and has worked alongside some of the top footwear designers, athletes, and entertainers in the world. She also successfully made the transition from the plastics industry to the footwear industry and is currently in the consumer electronics and gaming industries.
  
  Tiffany has spent over 15 years in the footwear space with Nike, Saysh, and her own Youtube Channel reviewing sneakers. She served as the lead Innovator on the Nike Hyperadapt, 2016 Nike Mag (auto-lacing), Air Jordan 29, Tom Sachs Collection 1, Air Yeezy 1, Air Raid Paranorman, Coraline Dunk, and many more Nike Products. For Saysh, she helped in starting the brand by bringing in designers, factories, and various partners to build the product, she also developed their first two products, The Saysh One and the Olympic track & field spike competed in by Allyson Felix in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, where she won both a gold & a bronze medal.
  
  Tiffany is experienced in product development from concept thru mass production of consumer goods. Tiffany has been featured in Wired Magazine (Oct ‘16), Netflix-Abstract the Art of Design, The Today Show, The New York Times, and the book “Sneakers” for her innovative work on Nike’s Electro Adaptive Reactive Lacing (EARL) Technology.
  
  Tiffany grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania and studied at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College for her Bachelor of Science in Plastics Engineering Technology.

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  Kaitlyn Benoit

  Design Director, Rivian Automotive

  2023 Lifestyle Accessories Jury Member

  Kaitlyn started her career at KitchenAid small appliances where she focused on building out the ecosystem around the Stand Mixer including attachments and specialty bowls. From there, she headed to Smart Design, taking a user-centered approach to work for clients like OXO, Gatorade, Leesa, Merck, Shark, Ziploc, Frabill, Tropicana, and Caboodles. Most recently, she led the ID team at Rivian Automotive where she and her team expanded the vehicle’s ecosystem through a suite of Adventure Products, Chargers, and vehicle accessories.
  
  When she’s not designing, you can find her exploring art museums and local running trails, seeking out the perfect cup of coffee, or whipping up a new piece of clothing for her next adventure.
  
  Kaitlyn holds a BFA in Industrial Design from the University of Notre Dame. She is currently taking time off to travel.
  

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  Dror Benshetrit

  Principal, Studio Dror

  2018 Built Environment Jury Captain

  Dror Benshetrit is a designer, thinker, dreamer and futurist. He began his career as an artist and has since amassed an award-winning portfolio of product design, interiors, architecture, master planning and city planning—all before the age of 40. Together with his team of designers, artists, architects, researchers and communicators, he tackles ambitious pursuits to foster authentic connections and improve people’s well-being.
  
  His holistic practice—named one of the most innovative companies in design by Fast Company—intentionally works across all scales, blurring boundaries with each project.
  
  Studio Dror is one of the only practices to bridge Architecture, Design, and Art, and the results are always avant-garde: current endeavors include an innovation lab for the future of nature and humanity, large site-specific installations, a book entitled ‘Dror Dreams’, and The Lookback, an immersive entertainment venture replicating an astronaut’s experience standing on the Moon looking back at Earth.
  
  Collaboration is the cornerstone of his approach: he partners with best-in-class specialists and brands and organizations that share the same spirit of innovation to test the limits of convention and bring profound ideas to life. As a result, Dror’s connections and network includes highly influential people in the worlds of Art, Real Estate Development, Fashion, Design, Academia and Politics.
  

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  Craighton Berman

  Founder/Creative Director, Manual

  2019 Crowdfunding Jury Member

  Doing this and that, here and there.