Vice President, Product Design and Development

Michael Alexin joined Target in 2002 as Vice President, Softlines Design and Product Development, responsible for all creative direction, product design, materials R&D and technical development of Target's apparel and accessory products. He also is the executive co-chair of Target's Sustainability Council.  Michael's previous experience includes leadership roles with Eddie Bauer, Nike, and Levi Strauss & Co.

• Target

Ali-Khan joined Tishman Speyer as the key creator of Tishman Speyer’s India development projects. Since 2004, he served as the vice president of real estate development for The New York Times Company. In this role, he was responsible for the development and construction of their new headquarters in Manhattan first totally LEED certified building, and the management of their real estate portfolio.

• TishmanSpeyer.com

Walter Bender is the founder of Sugar Labs, a non-profit foundation that serves as a support base for the community of educators and software developers who are extending the Sugar user interface. Sugar is designed to enhance the primary educational experience by emphasizing collaboration and expression. Prior to that, Bender was president for software and content of the One Laptop per Child association, where he developed and deployed technologies that are revolutionizing how the world's children engage in learning. Before taking a leave of absence from MIT, Bender was executive director of the MIT Media Laboratory. He was also holder of the Alexander W. Dreyfoos Chair.

Brent C.J. Britton, is an intellectual property lawyer at Squire Sanders & Dempsey. He is also a radio personality, a software engineer, and the only lawyer who is a graduate of the MIT Media Lab. Britton published one of the first internet 'zines in 1985, was the first volunteer law clerk at the EFF, founded the first internet law journal, and, according to his wiki, was influential in establishing the legal framework that ushered in the late 20th century internet boom in San Francisco and Silicon Valley.

Tom Crawford is the CEO of VizThink, an organization dedicated to the creation of a sustainable, global community of people who use any form of the visual arts for learning and communication. With an extensive background in technology, 2007 was Tom's 20th year as a professional programmer. However, in 2000, his career began to diverge from enterprise systems design and implementation into corporate education, simulation, and gaming. He spent 6 years at Root Learning starting their e-Learning initiative and growing it into almost 20% of the business. Root's strong use of art and metaphor introduced him to the power of visualization. Through extensive experimentation and testing with customers such as Blockbuster, Pepsi, Holiday Inn Express, and Bank of America, he developed extensive theories on web-based interactivity, engagement, and visualization. Tom left Root to become Vice President of the Masie Center, an association of learning executives professionals. In 2007, he continued his focus on visualization when he was named the CEO of VizThink.

• VizThink

CEO

In the 1980s, Bruce developed some of the first graphical user interfaces on personal computers while the 90s saw him help catalyze the virtual world and avatars medium. In the 2000s, Bruce brought online virtual worlds to NASA which uses them to design future missions. Most recently, in 2008, Bruce initiated the global EvoGrid project to demonstrate how evolution can be made to occur in Cyberspace.

• The DigitalSpace Corporation
• Damer

Joe Gould is an Autodesk Technical Specialist focused on architecture and Building Information Modeling solutions. Joe’s current focus is travelling to various architectural firms to educate individuals and teams about the advantages of Building Information Modeling and provide instruction about how firms can leverage available tools to support their business goals and move forward as innovators. Prior to joining Autodesk, Joe worked in the architectural industry as a Project Architect with an emphasis on concept design.  As a current member of the American Institute of Architects and with over 13 years of architectural experience, Joe has been able to utilize his industry knowledge and commitment to the design profession by applying what he has ascertained over the years to offer software solutions to meet current architectural challenges.

Steve Hamm is a senior writer at BusinessWeek, where we focuses on innovation, globalization, and leadership. He has been writing about the information tech industry for 20 years, first in Silicon Valley and now from New York. Previous to BusinessWeek, he worked as a writer and editor at PC Week and The San Jose Mercury News. Steve’s first book, Bangalore Tiger, about the rise of the Indian tech industry, was published in 2006. His new book, The Race for Perfect: Inside the Quest to Design the Ultimate Portable Computer, has just been published.

Erin Hoffer is an Architect and Industry Programs Manager with Autodesk Inc, a leading software provider. She fosters the adoption of innovation in design and practice from programming D.O.E solar energy analysis software in the early 80s to development of CAD tools and techniques for architecture and engineering with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. She is a LEED Accredited Professional and member of the AIA and CSI. Erin received a Master in Architecture from UCLA, an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, is a registered architect in California and a Ph.D. candidate at Northeastern.

Franco Lodato, IDSA, is Managing Director at Pininfarina Extra USA. Prior positions include Professor at the University of Montreal School of Design and vice-president of design, exploration and development for Herman Miller Inc.

His recent design work on the Maserati Birdcage 75 won the prize for Best Concept Car at The Geneva Car Show in March 2005 and the Concourse d'eleganze at Pebble Beach USA in August 2005.

At his former position as chief designer for Motorola iDEN Subscribers Group, Franco was the design strategist and visionary of new phones and co-branding for Nextel/Sprint products and its partners worldwide, including the Wearables Offspring concepts, NASCAR series, Phat Farm, Baby Phat, and the special edition phone for Bloomingdale's. He holds 45 US design and implementation patents in very well known consumer products.

Franco's visionary design philosophy is being presented in the book Bionics in Action by Jens Bernsen.

• Pininfarina Extra

Jennifer Magnolfi co-author of Always Building, is an architect and technologist whose research explores the intersection among architecture, interaction design, and building systems.

• Herman Miller

During her 17 years as Editor-in-Chief, the magazine has gained international recognition and has won numerous awards. Susan began her career with Interiors magazine, rising from a junior position of editorial assistant to senior editor; then she was named chief editor of Residential Interiors, the short-lived offspring of Interiors. Susan is the author of several books on design and teaches design history and ethics.

• METROPOLIS Magazine

Dr. Larry Thompson is President of Ringling of Art & Design , ranked by BusinessWeek magazine as one of the Top 60 design schools in the world, and one of only top institutions in the United States. As host of the Summit, Larry will share his vision for integrating design thinking and practice into business curriculum and explore global, state of the art trends in design and business education.

• Ringling College of Art & Design

Tom Wujec adds serious play in mapping this year's Summit.

Tom Wujec has produced stunning illustrated records of some of the world's leading business and design conferences, including the Fortune Innovation Conference and TED. During this year's Design Summit, Wujec will record each speaker's key ideas in a collection of sketches that colorfully depict the central topics, areas of concern, and innovation practices. He will also lead a series of interactive activities that will allow participants to arrange these images (as well as their own) into insightful and useful "idea maps" to discover the ideas that are most practical in the short- and long-term; which ones offer the most dramatic insight, and in what aspects of each participant's business they can be applied most effectively.

At the close of the conference, Wujec will present his sketches, summarize the full range of topics presented, and reflect on trends and patterns that have emerged. This activity will provide a unique opportunity for participants to synthesize the conference topics into their own personal representations of what works, what's worth trying and how their business can be elevated and expanded using what they've learned.. Wujec will make the concept sketches and idea maps available on-line immediately after the close of conference.

Tom Wujec is a Fellow and Principal Consultant at Autodesk, the Oscar- winning industry leader in 3D computer animation technology. He has brought several award-winning products to market and is co-author of Return on Imagination: Realizing the Power of Ideas, published by the Financial Times, and author of Five Star Mind and Pumping Ions, which have been translated into over a dozen languages.

• AutoDesk
• VizBlog