Jury Alumni

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  Roger Kellenberger

  Swiss Army Knife of Design

  2024 A/V & Photography Equipment Jury Member

  I consider myself a versatile 'Swiss Army Knife' of design, focusing on connecting the dots between brand, product, and user by emphasizing human-centered design to maintain a value-oriented experience. Initially trained by fuseproject and Studio F.A. Porsche, I have spent the past fifteen years working for leading design studios in Europe, the USA, and Asia. During this time, I collaborated with startups and Fortune 500 companies across multiple industries, picking up a few design awards every now and then. Being naturally curious, I am fascinated by human-machine collaboration as part of the creative process and always wondering what’s next.

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  Will Howe

  Industrial Design Consultant

  2023 Consumer Technology Jury Member

  I am an independent industrial design consultant committed to bringing coherent vision and expert delivery to the development of hardware in connected and analogue spaces.
  Across different product scales, I’ve helped ambitious tech start-ups and some of the world's most prestigious brands, informing and elevating their business with robust strategic thinking and industrial craft.
  Notable outputs include high-profile civic projects such as the London Olympic Torch and the Elizabeth Line Train interior. I’ve explored future autonomous vehicle experiences with Honda, luxury consumer products with Axor Hansgrohe, and the world’s first fully integrated quantum computing system for scientific and commercial use - IBM Quantum System One.
  Most recently with Sky, I led the development of their core hardware proposition, culminating in the delivery of the Sky Glass streaming TV platform in 2021.

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  Cara Kim

  Multidisciplinary Creative

  2023 Transportation Jury Member

  Cara Kim is a multidisciplinary creative based in New York City with 11 years of experience coming from the automotive industry. Born in South Korea and raised in Detroit, she studied automotive design at College for Creative Studies. Her experience includes working with companies like Audi, GM, Faraday Future, and Autodesk. Having pivoted to automotive interior design from exterior design early in her career, she values a holistic approach in mobility product design. She is excited to partake in the competition as a jury member to see the fresh perspectives of next generation designers and discuss design with the jury team. Despite her career background as a car designer, she does not own a car but relies on subway trains and her motorcycle at the moment.

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  Craig Metros

  Designer, Artist, Maker, Educator, Consultant

  2023 Transportation Jury Member

  Craig Metros is an accomplished automotive designer with more than 35 years of experience. He began his career at Ford Motor Company in 1985 and throughout his tenure, he led the design and development of multiple car and truck programs in countries around the globe. In 2014, Metros was appointed Design Director of North America where he oversaw the design and styling of all North American vehicles including the Mustang, F-Series trucks, the Ford GT race car, and the rebirth of the Bronco.
  
  Since retiring from Ford Design in 2020, Metros has taught Transportation Design at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan, and sits on CCS’ Alumni Board. He frequently serves as a design patent consultant and design expert witness and creates mixed-medium art influenced by motorsports, hot rods, and NASA.

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  Haley Nahman

  Freelance Writer

  2020 Personal Accessory Jury Member

  Haley Nahman is a culture writer and editor based in Brooklyn, New York. She was most recently the Features Director at Man Repeller, a cult women's media site covering style, culture, and advice. Today she's a freelance writer interested in exploring why humans respond to the trappings of modern life the way they do. She writes a weekly newsletter called Maybe Baby.

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  Julius Tapper

  Human-Centered Design and Innovation Consultant

  2021 Design for Social Impact Jury Member

  Julius Tapper is an innovation strategist working to redesign systems to value equity, inclusion, culture and prosperity. Julius has over a decade of professional experience spanning product and experience innovation, customer strategy, and social impact. Julius has led project teams across strategy and creative, for organizations including the UN, American Express, and UBS.
  
  Julius leads equity-centered design initiatives at Doblin, Deloitte’s human-centered design and innovation consulting practice. Prior to consulting, Julius worked at TD Bank, founding their impact investing and social finance program and issuing TD’s first Green Bond. Julius earned an MBA from MIT, an MPA from Harvard, and a BCom from the University of Toronto.

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  Donna Lichaw

  Independent Digital Product Strategist

  2016 Interaction Jury Member

  Donna Lichaw brings over 15 years of experience guiding startups, non-profits, and global brands in optimizing their digital products and services by providing them with a simplified way to drive user engagement through impactful storytelling. As a consultant, speaker, writer, and educator, she utilizes a ‘story first’ approach to help teams define their value proposition, transform their thinking, and better engage with their core customers.
  
  She began her career as a designer and user experience strategist for multiple startups and design agencies in New York and London, working with brands like Casio, Capitol Records, Sony Pictures, and Seamless. Prior to her career in technology, she refined her talent for storytelling and narrative development as an award-winning documentary filmmaker.
  
  Now recognized as a thought leader in storytelling and customer engagement strategies, she has presented as a keynote speaker at design and technology conferences in the US, Canada and Europe, and taught courses at New York University, Northwestern University, The School of Visual Arts, and Parsons the New School for Design. Her upcoming book – “The User’s Journey: Storymapping Products That People Love” is out now. You can find her on Twitter @dlichaw and on the web at www.donnalichaw.com.

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  Roger Kellenberger

  Swiss Army Knife of Design

  2024 Consumer Technology Jury Member

  I consider myself a versatile 'Swiss Army Knife' of design, focusing on connecting the dots between brand, product, and user by emphasizing human-centered design to maintain a value-oriented experience. Initially trained by fuseproject and Studio F.A. Porsche, I have spent the past fifteen years working for leading design studios in Europe, the USA, and Asia. During this time, I collaborated with startups and Fortune 500 companies across multiple industries, picking up a few design awards every now and then. Being naturally curious, I am fascinated by human-machine collaboration as part of the creative process and always wondering what’s next.

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  Raquel Breternitz

  Design Leader and Strategist

  2022 Interaction Jury Captain

  Raquel Breternitz is an award-winning design leader + strategist with a resume spanning service with the USCIS and as Elizabeth Warren’s Design Director to private sector credits at the New York Times, Pivotal Labs, and IBM. She has also spoken at Lesbians Who Tech, PluralSightLIVE, Wonder Women in Tech, and O'Reilly Design.
  
  Raquel’s work and speaking topics are connected by a passion for accessibility and inclusion, research-driven design thinking, and a hunger for tackling complex and challenging problems. She believes in strong, empathetic leadership for empowered, creative design teams. Outside of her day job, she loves to write, illustrate, make comics, and take pictures of her cat.

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  Jifei Ou

  Designer

  2017 Open Design Jury Member

  Jifei Ou (欧冀飞) is a designer, researcher and PhD candidate at the MIT Media Lab, where he focuses on designing and fabricating transformable materials across scales (from μm to m). Physical materials are usually considered as static, passive, and permanent. Jifei is interested in finding ways to redesign physical materials with the characteristics of digital information, such as the ability to change shape and and to be programmable. Such new materials could be used to construct a responsive living environment, accelerate the process of design and manufacturing, and enhance our existing interaction with products. As much as his work is informed by digital technology, he is inspired in equal measure by the natural world around him. He has been leading projects that study bio-mimicry and bio-derived materials to design shape-changing packaging, garments and furniture.
  
  Jifei holds an MS from the MIT Media Lab and a Diplom in Design from the Offenbach University of Art and Design in Germany.

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  George Sheldrake

  Service Design Consultant

  2018 Service Design Jury Member

  George Sheldrake is a service and experience designer with over 15 years in the industry, working with clients in the UK, US, Europe and Australia. She has worked across the breadth of the design industry, from magazines and branding through to product and service transformation.
  
  She believes in delivering design systems at the highest standard, from working with 90’s graphic designer Neville Brody to set up fashion magazines and culture brands, to creating the original BBC digital system GEL that is still in use today.
  
  Her service design experience ranges from startup products like BBC Global iPlayer to an ecosystem fitness product for Nike, to transforming service approach in UK government for GDS and Ministry of Justice.
  
  George is dedicated to creating products and services designed for the people that use them and the needs of the organizations around them. She is currently working with the HM Land Registry to support digital transformation and service change.
  
  She is passionate about bringing together the breadth of her experience to design systems and services to help organizations change, both ‘what they do’ and ‘how they do it’.

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  Alice Hines

  Writer

  2019 Built Environment Jury Member

  Alice is a writer in New York City. She contributes essays, criticism, features, and interviews to the New York Times, Bloomberg, and New York Magazine, and other publications. Alice also copywrites for fashion brands and startups.

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  Christine Gaspar

  Community-Engaged Designer & Nonprofit Leader

  2023 Design for Social Impact Jury Captain

  Christine Gaspar is a designer and planner with over fifteen years of experience in community-engaged design practice. She was the Executive Director of the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) from 2009 to 2022. CUP is a New York-based nonprofit whose mission is to use the power of design and art to increase meaningful civic engagement in partnership with historically marginalized communities. Prior to that, she was Assistant Director of the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio in Biloxi, Mississippi, where she provided architectural design and community planning services to low-income communities of color recovering from Hurricane Katrina. She is a founding member of the Design Futures Student Leadership Forum Advisory Board, and holds Masters in Architecture and in Urban Planning from MIT, and Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from Brown University. Her work is driven by a belief that design can be a powerful tool, particularly when it’s used to support community-led visions for change.

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  Ani Liu

  Designer, Experimental Artist & Speculative Technologist

  2018 Design Concept Jury Captain

  Ani Liu is a designer, experimental artist and speculative technologist working at the intersection of art & science. A recent member of MIT Media Lab, she creates research-based art that explores the social, cultural & emotional implications of emerging technologies.
  
  Ani's work has been presented at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Asian Art Museum, MIT Museum, MIT Media Lab, Wiesner Gallery, Harvard University, and media channels such as VICE, Gizmodo, TED, FOX and WIRED.
  
  In 2014-15 she lead the research program in Sensory Mediation at the Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities, exploring how information visualization and augmented reality, can be harnessed to extend the human sensorium to redefine spatial experience. She taught as an Associate Instructor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where she co-taught an advanced-level architectural studio called Architecture of Cultural Prosthetics: Tools for Communication and Expression in the Public Space with Krzysztof Wodiczko. She has served on numerous design panels at esteemed institutions including Dartmouth College, MIT, University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University.
  
  Ani has a B.A. from Dartmouth College, a Masters of Architecture degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and a Master of Science from MIT Media Lab. She is on the committee of Art Scholars at MIT. Ani continually seeks to discover the unexpected, through playful experimentation, intuition, and speculative storytelling. Her studio is based in New York City.

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  Mari Nakano

  Social Designer, Systems Strategist & Educator

  2023 Design for Social Impact Jury Member

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  Hillary Coe

  Design Leader

  2024 Transportation Jury Member

  Hillary is an Emmy award-winning, hands-on design leader utilizing bold, disruptive multi-platform innovations to solve the world’s greatest challenges. As SpaceX's first Director of Design, she successfully defined the visual strategy and narrative for human spaceflight in the 21st century through NASA’s Commercial Crew program. She led efforts to conceptualize human experience for future spacecraft, while also leading ground-up product development for the high-speed satellite internet service Starlink.
  She is a commercial pilot, astronaut candidate, drag racing record holder and advocate for young women and men entering STEM fields.