Jury Alumni

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  Ethan Imboden

  Venture Partner and Business Activist, Tuesday Capital & Standard Deviation

  2023 Sustainability Jury Member

  Ethan Imboden is a sustainability-focused designer, founder, and investor, working closely with the entrepreneurs and leaders building our next economy.
  Until earlier this year, Ethan served as VP Design & Global Head of Ventures at frog. He joined in 2013 to found the firm’s Venture Design practice, and its investment arm, frogVentures. Frog’s venture practice drives both strategic growth initiatives with VC-backed startup founders, as well as ground-up corporate venture building for some of the world’s largest multinationals. In 2017, Ethan also took on executive leadership of frog’s Sustainability practice, often pursuing strong synergies with the venture toolset. Prior to frog, Ethan founded, scaled, and exited a VC-backed global D2C product company in San Francisco, across the bay from his hometown of Berkeley. Today, he lives in the French Alps outside Geneva with his wife and two children, with whom he speaks fluent franglais.
  

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  Cilia Indahl

  Head, EQT Foundation

  2023 Sustainability Jury Member

  Cilia Indahl joined the global investment organization EQT during the pandemic to set up the EQT Foundation, an impact first investor and incubator. The foundation provides catalytic capital to entrepreneurs, who are building solutions within climate, health or inclusion and supports research accelerating impact investing. Indahl has a double degree in sustainable innovation and international business from HEC Paris and the NHH and started her career as trainee for the Norwegian Mission to the UN, assisting on the negotiations of the UN SDGs. Prior to joining EQT, Indahl was CEO of the impact investing organization Katapult and Sustainability Director at Aker Biomarine, where she also holds a board position.

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  Avra van der Zee

  COO, Elemental Excelerator

  2023 Sustainability Jury Member

  Avra is a climate tech executive passionate about supporting innovative climate tech startups as they scale. She is an experienced advisor, organization builder, and board leader, including as Director of Made of Air. As the former COO & GC at micro-mobility company JUMP, she led the company from its early inception to its strategic sale to Uber. She is currently COO of Elemental Excelerator, a global, non-profit climate investor and impact organization with over a decade of experience investing in place-based climate technologies.

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  Krystina Castella

  Professor, Industrial Designer and Author, Art Center College of Design

  2023 Toys & Play Jury Captain

  Krystina Castella has practiced as an industrial designer, consultant, and is a Professor at Art Center College of Design. Her work centers around designing for play, the intersection between design and ethical business, sustainable materials and manufacturing and entrepreneurship. She is founder of the Design Entrepreneur Network (DEN) a consulting group specializing in design strategy where she has assisted over 500+ start-ups, social enterprises, and organizations since 2004.
  
  She is also author of 12 books including award-winning cookbooks, children’s books, and a textbook Designing for Kids: Creating for playing, learning, and growing. She is a contributor to National Public Radio.
  
  Krystina worked in-house as a designer for Walt Disney Imagineering, FOX Children’s Network, Generra Sportwear, RTKL, and the Brooklyn Children’s Museum. She founded several licensing and manufacturing companies that internationally distributed products she designed, including furniture, toys, clothing, stationery, housewares, and soft goods. The Museum of Modern Art, Fortune Magazine and Oprah Winfrey have all praised Krystina’s creative achievements.

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  Brendan Boyl

  Partner, Founder of the IDEO Play Lab, IDEO

  2023 Toys & Play Jury Member

  Brendan Boyle is a Partner at IDEO, a global design and innovation firm. He’s also an adjunct professor at Stanford. He is the founder of the IDEO Play Lab, a board member of the National Institute of Play, an award-winning author of the Klutz Book of Inventions, and an acclaimed speaker on the joy of innovation. Brendan believes that play is the key to innovation and frequently speaks to creative leaders, entrepreneurs, and students about the importance of playful exploration and risk-taking. Under his leadership, the Play Lab has invented and licensed over 225 consumer products including the best-selling Jumperoo, Elmo Calls, and Pictionary Air.

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  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.
  

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  Cas Holman

  Principal, Heroes Will Rise

  2023 Toys & Play Jury Member

  For two decades Cas Holman has been designing playthings and playspaces that encourage exploration, imagination, and collaboration. Through her company Heroes Will Rise, Cas creates intuitive toys that inspire creative, open-ended play, including the award-winning Rigamajig, a line of playful building kits used in schools and public spaces worldwide. An educator of 12 years and former Associate Professor of Industrial Design at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Cas travels the globe to collaborate with thought and industry leaders in early education, curriculum design, public space, and childhood advocacy who share her passion for creating opportunities for child-directed free play. Her philosophy and approach to designing for play was recently featured in the award-winning documentary series “Abstract: The Art of Design” on Netflix.

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  Yesim Kunter

  Play Expert & Creative Strategist, Play to Innovate,

  2023 Toys & Play Jury Member

  Yesim Kunter is a recognized play expert and a creative strategist who understands the behavior of people to create new experiences and define new opportunities.
  
  As a consultant; develops “playful” experiences for Fortune 500 Companies, Universities, and Communities by applying ‘Play Philosophy’ to products, environments, communities, and culture creation as well as market research with future scoping; She has facilitated numerous successful ‘PlaytoInnovate® Workshops’ in training organizations with diverse backgrounds from kids to professionals for leveraging Creative Thinking and held talks at prestigious conferences.
  
  Previous to her consultancy she had worked for Toys R Us, Lego, and Hasbro as a play futurist.
  

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  Marie Williams

  CEO, Dream Networks

  2023 Toys & Play Jury Member

  Marie is a playful chartered engineer, design lecturer, TedX speaker, and CEO of Dream Networks. She founded Dream Networks in 2016 and has collaborated with businesses, schools, and communities to co-design and build engaging play spaces in economically deprived communities around the world. To date, Dream Networks has adopted sustainable design practices to create inclusive play spaces for over 60,000 children in the UK and Africa.
  
  She is an advocate for children's right to change the spaces they inhabit through play and design practices that prioritizes the needs of the community and the environment. In her recent TEDx, she suggests deconstructing the playground and demonstrates how we can collectively make play possible for all by adopting a child-centered approach that focuses on inclusive spaces, playful materials, and local connections. Through her Ph.D. at the UCL Institute of Global Prosperity within the Bartlett school of architecture, she has developed a critical blueprint for cultivating sustainable outdoor play spaces in urban refugee communities that relies on culturally specific co-design, materiality, and ethnography. She is a lecturer on design and innovation at Universities in the UK, Kenya, and the USA. Marie is a Christian, mother, and spontaneous baker.
  

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  Ben McGinley

  Director of Design, LiveWire, Harley Davidson

  2023 Transportation Jury Captain

  As a designer and design leader at Harley-Davidson, Ben has been at the forefront of electric motorcycle design while also having the opportunity to make an impact on new and existing internal combustion spaces through a mixture of evolution and reinvention.
  
  Now, as director of design for LiveWire, Ben and his team focus entirely on the challenge of reinventing motorcycling for the electric future – transforming everyday experiences into urban adventure and beyond by creating soulful products and product experiences that build the new brand and enrich the lives of riders.
  
  In his free time, Ben spends his time reading about sustainable architecture, out in nature, or with his collection of (mostly not running) vintage motorcycles.

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  Dylan Buffington

  US Marketing Manager, Pas Normal Studios

  2023 Transportation Jury Member

  Dylan Buffington is an experienced creative professional in design and marketing with over a decade of industry experience. He started his career as a freelance designer, working with clients from various industries to develop branding, marketing collateral, and industrial design. Later, he moved to a full-time role as a Lead Creative at Specialized Bicycles, where he honed his skills in visual communication and brand strategy. Dylan has been serving as Creative Director for various companies, focusing on creative leadership and management, developing high-performing projects from concept to completion, and creating innovative marketing campaigns that drive business growth.
  
  Currently, Dylan is the US Marketing Manager at Pas Normal Studios, a leading Danish cycling apparel brand. He is responsible for developing brand, retail, and activation strategies. Dylan's expertise in design and marketing, combined with his passion for the industry, has allowed him to drive business success and push the boundaries of what is possible. He is a skilled communicator and collaborator with a deep understanding of the power of design to connect with audiences and drive business growth.
  

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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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  Su Mathews Hale

  CEO and Chief Creative Officer, Hale Design

  2023 Visual Communication Jury Captain

  For more than two decades, Su Mathews Hale has thrived at the intersection of design and brand strategy. Using the power of design to develop inspiring creations while solving business problems, Su has collaborated with a broad range of notable clients including Citibank, Disney, Chick-fil-A, eBay, Hawaiian Airlines, Hershey’s, Hyatt, IHG, Papa Johns, Sam’s Club, Samsung, Shutterstock, Taco Bell and Walmart.
  
  Currently as CEO and Chief Creative Officer of Hale Design, a branding agency she opened in 2019, Su recently led her creative team on Papa Johns refreshed brand identity – the visual reflection of the new tone set by the brand - a more modern, bold, fun, fresh and tasty experience. The friendly, streamlined logo reflects the pizza chain's momentum, introduces flexibility to scale digitally and positions Papa Johns for continued success and growth. Prior to Hale Design, she was a former associate partner at Pentagram, New York, and a senior partner and creative director in design at Lippincott, where Su led global projects spanning the full gamut of brand creation and identity development. While at Lippincott, she served as creative director on the famed Walmart rebranding – a massive brand repositioning and revitalization engagement that contemporized the global retail giant while retaining the values of its heritage.
  
  Su also serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, CA.

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  Nicholas Fulcher

  Art Director & Designer, Atlantic Records

  2023 Visual Communication Jury Member

  NickyChulo (Nicholas Fulcher) is an Art Director & Designer from Northern Virginia who currently resides in Los Angeles, California. Learning how to draw at an early age, Nicholas was drawn to graffiti, comic books, and video games. He continued to harness his combined love of art & design and attended numerous design classes in high school. Teachers quickly began to take notice and started to encourage his growth which helped cultivate his passion for visual communication. In 2010, Nicholas began freelancing in Washington D.C. and his primary focus was album art and apparel design. From 2013-2014 he attended Savannah College of Art & Design (Atlanta) studying towards his BFA in Graphic Design. After studying a few years, honing his craft, Nicholas made the move to New York City where he actualized his passion by becoming an Art Director at Atlantic records. He has carefully navigated his way through the industry and has grown into one of the most sought out visual artists.

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  Bryony Gomez-Palacio

  Co-founder, UnderConsideration

  2023 Visual Communication Jury Member

  Born and raised in Mexico City, Bryony Gomez-Palacio is co-founder of UnderConsideration, a graphic design firm generating its own projects, initiatives, and content while taking on limited client work. Over the last two decades Bryony has managed the behind-the-scenes of various blogs and design sites co-created with her husband and partner Armin Vit, including Brand New which is devoted to opinions on corporate and brand identity work.
  
  In 2010 the Brand New Conference, a two-day event on corporate and brand identity with some of today’s most active and influential practitioners from around the world, was created. In 2018, they conceived First Round, a one-day showcase of original presentations made to clients showing initial design explorations for logo, identity, and branding projects.
  
  When not hand-making materials for the Brand New Conference, organizing events, or working on client work Bryony can be found heading out of town where she loves to meet new people while conducting workshops, judging competitions, lecturing on all things design, or coaching others on all aspects of life and work.