Speakers

• 

  Andy Epstein

  Senior Director of Managed Services at Cella

  By leveraging both creative and operational expertise, teams under Andy’s leadership have consistently exceeded established KPIs and outperformed peer groups in the industry. He even cofounded InSource, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting in-house creative teams. It should come as no surprise, then, that Andy has published The Corporate Creative, one of the few books specifically…

  Session:

  • Lose/Lose Win/Win: Strategies to Succeed for In-house Designers

  • In-House
• 

  Farai Madzima

  UX Manager at Shopify (Canada)

  He also works as a UX Manager at Shopify in Ottawa. Before that, while living in South Africa, Farai designed banking apps used by many across the continent. He grappled with unique design challenges because most internet users have never used a laptop or desktop. And some buy data by the megabyte. Farai likes words…

  Session:

  • I’m Not REALLY listening. Neither Are You. And We’re Missing Out.

  • In-House
  • UX
• 

  Forest Young

  ​​Executive Design Leader & Educator (former Global Head of Brand at Rivian)

  Previous to this, Forest was the Chief Creative Officer at Wolff Olins. Forest is a Senior Critic in graphic design at the Yale School of Art, where he is also a distinguished MFA alumnus. He is a founding advisor for MillerKnoll’s Diversity in Design collaborative. Forest’s work has been exhibited at MoMA, the ROM, the…

  Session:

  • Keynote: Outside Inside

  • Branding
  • In-House
• 

  Krys Blackwood

  Principal User Experience Designer at JPL (NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

  Before joining JPL in 2015, Krys spent 20 years in Silicon Valley, designing ecommerce and healthcare experiences with companies ranging from tiny startups to industry giants. Krys’s philosophy centers on an unwavering faith that when companies and products are designed around the needs of the end user, everyone wins. This is even more true when…

  Session:

  • Imagining the Future: How NASA Designs for the People, Robots and Cultures of Tomorrow

  • In-House
  • UX
• 

  Lisa Hong

  Head of Design, Mydoh at RBC

  She has worked in consulting, agency, start-ups and product with a passion to better operational design challenges using human-centric frameworks.She’s currently working towards a Master of Information concentrating on human-centred data science at University of Toronto, to better marry the world of data and design.

  Session:

  • Collaborative Design Workflows

  • In-House
• 

  Monique Ah-Sue

  Creative Director at Deloitte Canada’s Agency

  She studied Commerce at Queen’s University and Communication Design at Parsons School of Design. Her clients and past employers include: Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, W Network, YTV, Marvel, Google and New York Fashion Week. Her work focuses on creative strategy, branding, advertising, visual identity, live-action directing, network launches and experiential. She has a passion for fashion,…

  Session:

  • Collaborative Design Workflows

  • In-House