Jury Alumni

• 

  Dani Arps

  Interior Designer, Dani Arps LLC / Artisan

  2021 Built Environment Jury Member

  Opening her eponymous firm Dani Arps LLC in 2014; Arps is an interior designer who designs office spaces for top startup companies throughout NYC. She has worked with the Founders and CEO’s from buzzy startups like Daily Harvest, SeatGeek, Codecademy, and General Assembly; to create over 250K sqft of striking and of the moment designs that cater to their unique needs. She will be launching her new business venture, Artisan, which combines design, brokerage, and project management, this year.
  
  Featured in many publications like Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, House Beautiful, Architectural Digest, and Interior Design Magazine; She was named by top design publication, House Beautiful, as 2019’s ‘Next Wave Interior Designer’ and awarded as 2017’s ‘Star on the Rise’ by the renowned Decoration and Design Building.

• 

  Anne Asensio

  Vice President Design Experience, Dassault Systèmes

  2016 Transportation Jury Member

  After 30 years in various executive and design management positions in the automotive industry, Global Executive Director at General Motors in charge of the Design of the group's eight brands, and Renault Design Director for the Twingo, Clio & Scénic programs, Anne ASENSIO joins Dassault Systèmes in 2008 as Vice President Design Experience. She created the "Design" discipline and design research department of Dassault Systèmes as well as the DESIGNStudio entity, bringing together a multidisciplinary team in innovation strategy through design, experience design, upstream thinking, design research, design management.
  
  Advocating a participatory approach with regard to new technologies and virtual universes, the DESIGNStudio supports Dassault Systèmes’ customers in fast-growing industrial sectors in their needs for transformation, digital and sustainable innovation, towards new business models for a circular economy, towards virtuous design processes, as a manifestation of their value proposition to their end customers. Anne collaborates with designers, artists, maverick thinkers, innovators in diverse industry and public sectors. Imagining alternatives strategies to transform the world we live in in a more sustainable and desirable one, Anne enables cross-thinking, colliding nature inspired and technological approaches through creation and ultimately leverage the value of design for users, citizens and humans’ well-being.

• 

  Torun Degnes

  Management Consultant, Dedinu

  2016 Strategy & Research Jury Member

  Torun Degnes, is a Management Consultant with more than 20 years of experience with design and innovation processes in a wide range of businesses. She is industrial designer from education and has a broad experience from different leading positions, previously CEO of a multi disciplinary product development consultancy.
  
  Torun was for many years the board deputy chairman of the Norwegian Design Council and board member of one Innovation Norway regional office.
  
  Torun is an experienced juror and Jury Leader for the Norwegian Design Excellence Award.

• 

  Nicola Ralston

  VP, Global Innovation Studios, Dell Technologies

  2022 Home & Living Jury Member

  Nicola is an accomplished Designer and Design leader with extensive experience building and leading design & innovation teams for global brands. Having had a Design Career in Automotive design working for brands such as Ford, Hyundai, and Kia she then moved on to Nokia inspired by their global reach and their way of connecting people. For Microsoft Windows and Devices group Nicola built and led a multi-disciplinary, human centered, design team across Design and Human Factors that worked to articulate disruptions, product, and experience opportunities with a focus on edge devices, and looking to ambient futures. Most recently, Nicola has joined Dell Technologies as VP, Global Innovation Studios, responsible for leading the Experience Innovation Studio teams that envision, define, and build differentiated customer experiences and proof of concepts, driving innovation and disruption across Dell’s business units and product portfolios. Nicola has worked and lived as a designer in the UK, Italy, Germany, Finland, and the US.

• 

  Sabiha Basrai

  Co-Owner, Design Action Collective

  2018 Design for Social Impact Jury Member

  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.

• 

  Margaret Lee

  Leadership Coach, Design Dept.

  2023 Interaction Jury Captain

  Margaret Lee is a Leadership Coach helping Design and Product executives and practitioners to lead with authenticity and confidence. Prior to coaching with Design Dept., Margaret was a User Experience leader at Google, where she built and led teams in Chrome, Search, and Maps. She led Google Maps UX from its early days as a groundbreaking desktop experience, to an indispensable tool for navigation and local exploration. Margaret also served as Director of UX Community + Culture at Google, a program she founded to serve and empower the company’s global User Experience organization. Decades in the tech industry has shaped her current commitment: to create conditions for teams to flourish and individuals can uncover their unique potential and leadership style. Margaret speaks and writes about her personal journey as a leader, the importance of a healthy culture in the workplace, and our collective responsibility to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

• 

  Claire Thomas

  Campaigner, Design for 99

  2015 Furniture & Lighting Jury Member

  Claire is interested in the social value of design, and runs the new campaign Designfor99.org. She brings her experience of working with internationally acclaimed designers, architects and cultural organizations, advising communications strategy, running high level media campaigns and lobbying for government policy to support the design, technology and manufacturing industries.Clients and projects include - Design Museum London, Ron Arad Architects, Venice Biennale commissions by John Pawson and Zaha Hadid for Swarovski, Formafantasma for Established & Sons, Serpentine Pavilion designed by Peter Zumthor, London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, Bloomberg's contemporary art commission and the young creatives programme at the Roundhouse, Rolex Awards for Enterprise, Design Ventura sponsored by Deutsche Bank, and PR at Dyson including the James Dyson Awards. The brilliance of the inventors, artists, scientists and makers she met along the way inspired the creation of a campaigns agency that champions ingenious solutions to social, environmental and civic challenges.

• 

  Takaki Mori

  President and Founder, Design Force and Bond Creative

  2016 Packaging Jury Member

  Takaki was born and raised in Osaka, Japan. After graduating from Ritsumeikan University of Economics, he started to work at an architectural firm and then changed his career to a publishing company. In 2000, he founded Design Force, starting his design career as a Creative Director. Since then he has a motto "Somewhere in the world, someone is waiting for me."
  
  He has worked on projects for major Japanese companies such as Kokuyo, Lotte, Yakult, Rohto, Morinaga Milk, Aprica and the government of Kyoto-city.
  Main Prizes He has won: Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2011 Best in the World, iF packaging awards 2012, and APD 2015 Best Creative Awards.
  
  Also he is in charge of a director of JPDA (Japan Package Design Association), a vice-chairman of ASPaC (Asia Student Package Design Competition), and a design director of DOOR to ASIA (Designers in Residence Program).

• 

  Nadine Clemens

  Co-founder & President, Design Friends

  2020 Sports & Recreation Jury Member

  Nadine Clemens is the co-founder and president of Design Friends, a cultural, non-profit association promoting the work of designers through talks and exhibitions. Since its creation in 2009, the Luxembourg-based association has also set up multiple collaborative and educational projects, screening nights and portfolio shows. The Design Friends’ catalogue of publications contains over 50 designer monographs and a series of DEE magazines, all self-published.
  
  With a background in art history, Nadine Clemens has been working for over fifteen years in contemporary art institutions as a director of art publications, corporate communication and media relations.

• 

  Jason Mayden

  VP of Design, Design Mark One

  2015 Consumer Product 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 Masters 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. In addition to his responsibilities as VP of Design at Mark One, Jason is also a d.Fellow at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University, a frequent lecturer at Stanford University's prestigious Graduate School of Business, a regular columnist/blogger for Hypebeast Magazine and hypebeast.com and an advisory board member to his undergraduate alma mater, the College for Creative Studies.

• 

  Jillian Choi

  Director of Global Exhibitions, Design Miami

  2021 Furniture & Lighting Jury Member

• 

  Karen Feder

  Head, MFA, Design for Play, Design School Kolding

  2023 Toys & Play Jury Member

  Karen Feder is the head of the world’s first international Design for Play Master’s Program at Design School Kolding, educating the next generation of play designers. The program recognizes the understanding of play as a prerequisite for designing high quality toy design. The curriculum is based on research within play and toy design qualified through dialogue with institutions around the world and in collaboration with experienced toy design companies.
  
  Karen is an assistant professor, in the LAB for Play & Design, where she does research in child-centered design for play and how to teach designers to design opportunities for play from a child-centered perspective. Her current research focusses on how taking the starting point in the children and their everyday lives, can lead to more relevant and meaningful design for children.
  

• 

  Rachel Smith

  Founder & Designer, Design to Combat COVID19

  2023 Health & Wellness Jury Member

  Rachel Smith is a Latinx Designer & Founder of Design to Combat COVID-19, a virtual community of creatives over 2,000 strong—who during the pandemic volunteered their skills and time to support underrepresented communities. By day, Rachel Smith is a Product Designer at Facebook, was formerly a Lead Mentor with The Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum and previously has worked with companies such as Nordstrom and The Home Depot. The rest of the time, the LA native works on a range of creative projects, both within her local and global communities.

• 

  Deanna Van Buren

  Co-Founder, Designing Justice Designing Spaces

  2017 Design for Social Impact Jury Member

  Deanna is the co-founder of Designing Justice Designing Spaces, a nonprofit harnessing the power of design and development to transform people and communities. After starting her first company in 2011 she became a national leader in formulating and advocating for restorative justice centers, a radical transformation of justice architecture. Her passion for exploring the intersection of design and culture has been fueled by her work as a design lead on urban design, institutional and education projects in the bay area, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Recent projects with DJDS include the Syracuse Peacemaking Center in New York and Restore, a multi-use hub for restorative justice and work force development in east Oakland. Deanna is currently conducting the first design studios with incarcerated students, and is a recent awardee of the Rauschenberg Artist as Activist grant to develop a prototype mobile resource village. Deanna received her BS in Architecture from the University of Virginia, M. Arch from Columbia University and is an alumnus of the Loeb Fellowship at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design.