Headshot Wendy Millard RGD

Wendy Millard RGD

Director of Design at Empire Life

Wendy Millard is the Director of Design at Empire Life, combining over 30 years of visual communication expertise with a proven track record in design management and creative operations.

A specialist in Workfront (Project Management) and Digital Asset Management (DAM) systems, she is dedicated to optimizing in-house design workflows and transforming design operations into an integrated business ecosystem that drives corporate design excellence.

Her comprehensive approach bridges creative vision with business performance, encompassing design management, multi-touch point marketing and corporate governance. An industry advocate, Wendy serves as Vice-President of the Kingston School of Art (KSOA) and is a Past President of the Association of Registered Graphic Designers (RGD).

Mike Ukstins

Director, Managed Services at Cella by Randstad Digital

Mike Ukstins is a creative industry professional with an international MBA and leadership experience in agency and in-house settings.

Having recently launched and led Cella’s award-winning creative studio at Fresenius Medical Care, Mike enjoys helping companies of various sizes and industries elevate creative output through a focus on process, people and technology. Mike began his career as a graphic designer, gaining more than 20 years of experience across marketing, creative operations and strategy. He understands the challenges that creatives face, speaks their language and inspires them to do great work. Mike’s thoughtful approach to leadership and client support helped his career grow to manage teams, processes and operations. Mike sees the big picture and enjoys finding common ground among stakeholders from diverse backgrounds and opinions. He’s a strong communicator and comfortable in conversations with everyone from the C-suite to production.

Headsthot Maggie Chen

Maggie Chen

Principal Product Manager at Ada

Maggie Chen is a product designer who moved into product management at Ada, where she built the company’s first self-serve experience and some of its earliest LLM-powered features.

Before Ada, she built products and branding across education and social enterprise. She’s interested in the space between design and product management: how the two disciplines sharpen each other and what it takes to build generative AI that actually helps the people using it. Her work spans product, growth and design.

Headshot Chip Kidd

Chip Kidd

Author & Book Designer at Penguin Random House

Chip Kidd was hired at Alfred A. Knopf as Assistant to the Art Director in October of 1986. He was 22.

He has since worked at the firm non-stop, and, over time, has designed book covers for Gabriel García Márquez, Michael Crichton, Donna Tartt, Cormac McCarthy, Henry Louis Gates Jr., James Ellroy, Orhan Pamuk, Oliver Sacks, Jill Lapore, Bret Easton Ellis, Edmund White, John Updike, David Remnick, Elie Wiesel, J. D. McClatchy and Haruki Murakami, among many others. He is the recipient of the Cooper-Hewitt/Smithsonian’s National Design Award for Communications and the Life-time Achievement Medal from the AIGA. Chip has published two novels, The Cheese Monkeys and The Learners. Both were bestsellers. He is also the author of the 2025 Marvel graphic novel The Avengers in the Veracity Trap! with art by Michael Cho.

Headshot Roman King

Roman King

Creative Director at Major League Soccer (MLS)

At MLS, Roman leads all league creative and shapes campaigns, consumer-facing marketing, narrative storytelling and visual direction to grow the game in North America.

His work centres on igniting cultural relevance, brand affinity and fan connection by bringing the sport to life for a new era of fans.

Previously, Roman served as the WNBA’s first Creative Director where he orchestrated its creative evolution and helped usher in a new era for the league — spearheading creative across advertising, design, brand marketing, storytelling, television and immersive experiences. His work included launching the league’s rebrand, the WNBA’s first short film We Are The W and the acclaimed “More Than Game” campaign in 2023. His work has been recognized by Ad Age, Adweek, The Business of Fashion, Communication Arts, the Clios, Ebony, Muse, MTV News, the Webby Awards, among others.

Prior to joining the WNBA, Roman held creative leadership roles at Rolling Stone, Philadelphia magazine and Condé Nast. He hails from the country roads of West Virginia, where he received a BFA (West Virginia University).