Jeremy Alexis
Assistant Professor, IIT Institute of Design

Jeremy has spent the majority of his professional career leading interdisciplinary teams tasked with defining next generation products, services, and business models. He has worked with clients such as Unilever, Motorola, Citibank, Pfizer, American Express, Target Corporation, and Zebra Technologies. Jeremy's research agenda involves understanding the strategic value of design and defining the role of design in business strategy. This research will develop a framework for the successful application of design methods, skills, and thinking to business problems related to competitiveness and organic growth.

Cynthia Benjamin
Senior Engagement Manager, Strategic Decisions Group

Ms. Benjamin has a concentration in business growth and innovation strategy, with eight years of consulting experience in business model development and corporate strategy with industry leaders such as Procter & Gamble, Federal Express, Genentech, and Cisco Systems. Prior to joining SDG, Ms. Benjamin was a design engineer at IDEO Product Development, as well as founder and general manager of Samson-McCann, Inc., designing and manufacturing unique furniture and home furnishings.

Jeb Brugmann
Founding Partner, The Next Practice

For 20+ years Jeb Brugmann has been a leading practitioner in devising localised solutions, at scale, for business, government and international development agencies. Brugmann's current work in The Next Practice focuses on supporting large corporations with consumer research, high-impact product, business model and distribution channel development, and customer relationship management approaches for very diverse local base-of-the-pyramid markets. Most recently, he led TNP's work in India to develop rural distribution channels, marketing concepts, and partnership management frameworks.

Carol Coletta
President & CEO, CEOs for Cities; Master of Design Methods candidate, IIT Institute of Design

Carol Coletta is president and CEO of CEOs for Cities, and host and producer of the nationally syndicated public radio show Smart City. She is currently pursuing a Master of Design Methods at the Institute of Design. Previously, she served as executive director of the Mayors' Institute on City Design in Memphis. Among her accomplishments, she created and hosted the Memphis Manifesto Summit with Richard Florida, the first gathering of the creative class to write their call to action for cities; and conceived and wrote the Talent Magnet Report, the first city blueprint aimed at attracting and retaining the creative class.

Chris Conley
Associate Professor, IIT Institute of Design

Chris Conley's teaching and research at ID is focused on a creative, multi-disciplinary approach to business innovation called Integrated Definition, which integrates research and design to create meaningfully differentiated new products and services that drive business growth. He also practices what he preaches as a Director of Gravity Tank, a rapidly growing consulting firm that delivers Integrated Definition to Fortune 500 clients including Unilever, Goodyear, Samsung, Office Max, Motorola, and McDonald's. He is the 2006 Chair of the IDSA/BusinessWeek IDEA Awards.

Natalia C. Davis
Partner, Kairos Inc.

Natalia has been consulting internationally since 1997. She is considered a business anthropologist who studies organizations and markets as networks of human interaction. Her clients include ABB, Heidelberg Press, AT&T, Applied Materials and KLA-Tencor. Under her leadership, Kairos Inc. consults one client each year. The remainder of her time is spent on investment research. She has frequently lectured at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and at the New York Society of Security Analysts.

Scott Durschlag
Corporate VP, General Manager, Global xProducts, Motorola

Global xProducts is focused on co-creating Mobile Devices with rich experiences together with key strategic partners and partner ecosystems, commercializing new experience-based devices and innovating new business models. Previously, Scott was Corporate VP and GM for Motorola's Mobile Devices business in South Asia, where he led a dramatic turnaround of the business. Scott joined Motorola in 2002 as Corporate VP of Strategy and Business Development for the Personal Communications Sector.

Rob Forbes
Founder, Design Within Reach

Rob Forbes is the Founder of Design Within Reach, a company he launched in July 1999 as a San Francisco based catalog, internet retailer and resource for modern design. Over the past six years DWR has expanded to include 60 studios across the country and an online publication, Design Notes, which reaches an international audience. He is currently a member of the SFMOMA (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art) Architecture & Design Forum, and sits on the Board of Directors for San Francisco Jazz. He also serves on the San Francisco Mayors' Council for Greening and is an advisor to the National Institute of Design for Mayors.

Jeffrey Li
Country President, Novartis China

Jeffrey joined Novartis in 2004 from the Pritzker family, where he worked in a number of positions of advisory and general management responsibilities for 11 years. In the last five years at the Pritzker family, he was President of Getz Commercial, an international sales and marketing company. Jeffrey has BS from Beijing University of Aeronautics and MS from Illinois Institute of Technology.

Douglas Look
Master of Design Methods student, IIT Institute of Design

Doug Look completes his Master of Design Methods at the Institute of Design in 2006, where he concentrates on developing user-centered tools and methods for research and analysis. Before coming to ID, in his role as Senior Product Manager and Design Strategist at Autodesk, Inc., Doug led efforts to develop and bring to market two new Computer Aided Design software applications. As a licensed architect with over 20 years of experience, he has sought ways to implement digital technology solutions to improve work flow processes while respecting traditional methods and practices. 

Roger Martin
Dean, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto

A Canadian from Wallenstein, Ontario, Roger Martin was formerly a Director of Monitor Company, a global strategy consulting firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. During his 13 years with Monitor Company, he founded and Chaired Monitor University, the firm's educational arm, served as co-head of the firm for two years, and founded the Canadian office. His research interests lie in the areas of global competitiveness, integrative thinking, business design and corporate citizenship.

Christopher Meyer
CEO, Monitor Networks

Christopher Meyer is chief executive of Monitor Networks, a Monitor Group company. His recent research and consulting focuses on the development of the Adaptive Enterprise, helping companies create the capacity to sense, respond to, and adapt to changes in their business environments. He wrote It's Alive: The Coming Convergence of Information, Biology, and Business and co-authored Blur: The Speed of Change in the Connected Economy and Future Wealth with Stan Davis.

Clement Mok
The Office of Clement Mok

Clement is a designer, digital pioneer, software publisher/developer, author, design patent holder and serial entrepreneur. A former creative director at Apple, he founded multiple successful design-related businesses--studio Archetype, CMCD and NetObjects. Most recently he was the Chief Creative Officer of Sapient, and the president of AIGA. Currently, he is Global Director of Design Planning at Sapient, CEO of CMCD Visual Symbols Library, and an independent consultant on a variety of product development projects.

Bruce Nussbaum
BusinessWeek

Bruce Nussbaum is Assistant Managing Editor of Business Week. He writes frequently on design for the magazine, and analyzes the annual Industrial Designers Excellence Awards and the BusinessWeek / Architectural Record AIA Awards for the magazine. He also edits the weekly Economic Viewpoint column and writes essays and commentaries for the magazine. Nussbaum is widely credited with being the leading business writer in bringing design to the world of management. He is the editor in charge of BusinessWeek's new on-line publication on design and innovation. Prior to Business Week, Mr. Nussbaum was a reporter for the Far Eastern Economic Review and The American Banker.

Russell G. Redenbaugh, CFA
Partner, Kairos, Inc.

Russell was a partner in Cooke & Bieler, Inc., a Philadelphia based investment management firm from 1969 to 1999. While there he helped grow the business from $125M to over $6 billion in stock and bond assets. Along the way he served as a security analyst, portfolio manager, Chief Investment Officer and economic strategist. Mr. Redenbaugh also served as a Commissioner of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights for 15 years before resigning in 2005. In 2003, 2004 and 2005 he won the gold medal in the World Jujitsu Competition held in Brazil.

Todd Tillemans
General Manager, Skin, Unilever

Todd Tillemans is the General Manager for Unilever's North American Skin Business, comprised of leading consumer brands including Dove, Caress, Lever 2000, Axe, Vaseline, Suave, Ponds, and Q-tips. Before that, he spent three years leading Unilever's North American Deodorant business, leading a team to deliver sustained double digit growth in sales and profits by bringing distruptive product innovation, leading-edge brand activation, and innovative retail shopping solutions to market.

Ben Tsiang
EVP Product Development, SINA.com

Ben Tsiang co-founded SINANET.com, the largest Chinese website in North America and the precursor of SINA.com. He has served as Vice President of Global Products, in charge of product integration and strategic planning with SINA's localized web sites worldwide; General Manager of SINA Taiwan; GM of SINA East China; and GM of SINA Mobile. Mr. Tsiang was appointed to his current role of Executive Vice President of Product Development and GM of SINA Online in November 2003. He graduated from National Taiwan University and received a master's degree from Stanford University.

Patrick Whitney
Steelcase/Robert C. Pew Professor & Director, IIT Institute of Design

Patrick Whitney has published and lectured throughout the world about how to make technological innovations more humane, the link between design and business strategy, and methods of designing interactive communications and products. He was chairman of the program of the 1978 U.S. Conference of the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (ICOGRADA), which was the first major meeting addressing the issues of evaluating design from the perspective of users. Recent speaking engagements include the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit, and the TED Conference 2004 in Monterey.

Jim Wicks
Vice President and Director of Consumer Experience Design, Motorola

Jim Wicks is responsible for user interface and industrial design of Motorola personal communications products. Jim joined Motorola in 2001 as Director of User Interface Design and Human Factors, and functioned in this role until 2004 when he was appointed to his current role. Jim spent many years in Japan, first as a designer for GK Design associates and then with Sony Corporation. He later joined Sony's design group in the US with a focus on personal communications, computing and new audio products, culminating with his establishment of the Sony innovation and design center in San Francisco.

Blaise Zerega
Managing Editor, Condé Nast Business Media

Blaise Zerega was appointed Managing Editor to Condé Nast's new business magazine in January 2006. The new title is slated to launch in 2007. Previously he served as Managing Editor for WIRED magazine, and Editor of Red Herring magazine, where his editorial lens focused on the intersection of technology innovation, company formation, and investment opportunities. He has also worked at Forbes as News Editor for ASAP, the magazine's technology supplement.