The transformative power of design is undeniable. In troubled times, I believe that designers rise to the challenge of offering alternative routes for a better world. Designers are more than ready to work with all parts of organizations and share knowledge & know-how across silos. Together, let’s deep dive and discover how it can be done.
Anne Asensio is a designer. She held executive roles in design management and innovation strategy at Renault, General Motors, and now Dassault Systèmes. There she founded the Design Studio, gathering a multidisciplinary team in innovation strategy by design (Design Experience), design research, design management and consultancy.
Anne Asensio has won several design and innovation awards and plays an active role in strategic boards for companies and design schools throughout the world.
Olivier SAPPIN has 24 years expertise in Transportation and Mobility Industry and 3D Design and End to End Virtual Product / Experience Innovation. Since December 2019, he has been CEO of CATIA at DASSAULT SYSTEMES.
He started his career at Dassault Systèmes (3DS) in 1995 in CATIA’s Shape Design Industrialization Team. He then joined 3DS international Automotive Competency Center working with renowned customers like HONDA, FIAT, BMW, CHRYSLER and PSA to help them transform their design practices in the area of car body and styling. Through these experiences, he acquired deep knowledge of the automotive sector and customers’ business processes.
In 2011, he was appointed Vice President of the new defined Transportation and Mobility industry, which helps manufacturers and suppliers to develop new mobility experiences for their consumers.
Olivier really enjoys the new challenge to lead and represent the prestigious brand CATIA.
Patrick Jouin is a designer whose creativity finds an expression in industrial design for the decorative arts. With the top manufacturers, Cassina, Kartell, Alessi, Puiforcat, JC Decaux or Fermob, and for exceptional projects, Patrick found a place in the landscape of international design where only few know how to evolve with both ease and strength as he does. Patrick Jouin's career and his design agency, Patrick Jouin ID, were consecrated by a monographic exhibition at Centre Pompidou in 2009. They were also honored with the Compasso d'Oro in 2011 for PastaPot. Many of his creations are in the permanent collections of museums worldwide, including the "Solid" collection at MOMA, which in 2004 was the first series of real-size furniture made by 3D printing technology. Patrick Jouin is also involved in interior design projects with his partner Sanjit Manku, within the agency Jouin Manku founded in 2006.
Patrick JOUIN, designer.
Born 1967 in Nantes, France.
Diploma of Industrial Design from ENSCI-les Ateliers, Paris – France 1992.
Arthur Mamou-Mani is a French architect and director of the award-winning practice Mamou-Mani Architects, which specialises in a new kind of digitally designed and fabricated architecture. He is a lecturer at the University of Westminster and owns a digital fabrication laboratory called the FabPub which allows people to experiment with large 3D Printers and Laser Cutters. Since 2016, he is a fellow of The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. He has won the Gold Prize at the American Architecture Prize for the Wooden Wave project installed at BuroHappold Engineering. Arthur gave numerous talks including the TedX conference in the USA and has been featured in The New-York Times and Forbes. Mamou-Mani’s clients include ARUP, Buro Happold Engineering, Karen Millen Fashion, The Burning Man Festival, Food Ink and Imagination ltd. Prior to founding Mamou-Mani in 2011, he worked with Atelier Jean Nouvel, Zaha Hadid Architects and Proctor and Matthews Architects.
WDO President-Elect David Kusuma is the Senior Vice President of Product Management & Innovation at Oregon Tool. Prior to this, David served as the Vice President of Research & Innovation and Vice President of Product Development Worldwide at Tupperware Brands Corporation. During his tenure, he was tasked with subverting conventional boundaries of innovation by developing new technologies and materials to create game-changing product solutions. As a result, they developed 150 to 200 new products every year and launched them in over 100 countries around the world. David has also worked at General Electric (GE) as Global Manager, Design and Vehicle Engineering, to develop the use of polycarbonate as a viable alternative to glass in automotive window systems. Prior to GE, David worked at Bayer Material Science. David holds a Ph.D. from Cranfield University (United Kingdom), an MBA from Tilburg University (The Netherlands), a MS in Engineering Management from Purdue University, a BS in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, and a BS in Industrial Design from Carnegie-Mellon University.
Joined Japan Institute of Design Promotion in 2010 with 20 years’ of buyer experience at a Japanese retailer and was assigned as the International Manger. Developed cooperative relationships in the design promotion field with various countries/areas such as Taiwan, India, China, Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Turkey, Mexico and Indonesia, through the Good Design Award, Japanese comprehensive design award scheme. Elected as 2019-2021 and 2022-2023 board member of WDO and actively participate in the online projects even during COVID-19 years. Since 2020, was promoted as the Director of JDP and manages all design promotion projects both domestically and internationally.
I am the head of experience design lab for innovation at Orange. After starting my professional career as a consultant in a strategic information consulting firm, I held several management positions within Orange working on digital transformations, service design, and connectivity product design. For the past decade, I have dedicated myself to design management and to the creation of the Experience Design Lab to bring together social and economic sciences, research, and design expertise as a driver of human-centric innovation. The Design lab is developing a design culture and a large community of experienced designers in partnership with marketing and technical teams and with African and European Orange affiliates. At Orange, design has a long history to which new chapters are being added all the time as the pace of technological and social change increases. Designers are committed to contributing to solutions to benefit individuals, organizations, and the planet.
With each new mission she takes on, Meghan's passion to help future generations change the
world grows. This dedication prompted her to become the World Design Organization's
youngest board member in 60 years. Previously the United States female representative in
WDO's inaugural Young Designers Circle, Meghan continues to work with global communities to
elevate design education and gender equality design initiatives. In the UK, she mentored 12- to
18-year-olds in design, engineering, user research, and business. Meghan's devotion to giving
back has led her to volunteer and/or guest lecture within her favorite communities: Industrial
Designers Society of America, SHiFT Design, Auburn University, Columbus College of Art and
Design, Lehman College, and more.
After graduating from Savannah College of Art and Design, she worked in consulting and
corporate design at RKS Design and Ford Motor Company. She has worked on large strategic
problems with LEGO, Boston Scientific, Hamilton Medical, BMW, Honda, Ford, Amazon and
more. Meghan is currently a Lead Business & Service Designer within IBM iX where she
consults with clients to bring her wide digital ecosystem and sustainability expertise to a variety
of industries.
In her role as a Senior Design and Innovation Manager, Monika designs and delivers highly interactive Circular Design Sprints. She works closely with the Foundation’s Circular Design Leaders helping them to promote circular design and enable their design teams to take effective action.
Prior to that, she worked with the Foundation’s Strategic Partners, such as IKEA, Philips, Danone, and H&M to identify innovative learning pathways and people engagement strategies.
Monika’s background and passion lie in experiential & participatory learning and design processes, developing systemic leadership skills to address complex challenges. Prior to joining the Foundation, she ran her own company working internationally on consultancy in learning and leadership design and facilitation services.
Florence VERZELEN started her career as a financial analyst in investment banking in New York. She then acquired more than 5-years experience in the public sector: she worked in the European Commission in Brussels where she has been responsible for the trade relationships between EU and China, and thereafter of the antitrust case against Microsoft.
She joined the team of the French Minister of European Affairs, as his advisor on trade and industry issue in 2007. From 2008 to 2017, she worked at Engie, a world leader in the energy sector. She was first in charge of Business Development for the Group, then became CEO of Engie in Qatar and later VP for the group procurement performance plan. She finally was appointed COO of Engie Europe and Russia.
She is also an experienced board member, with board position at PSA and currently at Air France. Florence has been nominated Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum in 2013. Florence is a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique / Corps des Mines.
A Circular Economy scholar, an activist, and a system thinker, working at Danone at the intersection of the Circular Economy for Food and Open Innovation.
‘I made it my mission to be a driving force in a food revolution, a paradigm shift. I believe in a future of food as a force for good, a regenerative food future. I want to leave a world, in which economic, social and ecological interests are aligned. Food and agricultural can fuel this system shift through innovation, the adaptive power of the system, towards a resilient food system with a regenerative impact, by design.’
Merijn holds a Bachelor in Industrial Design Engineering and an MBA in Innovation, Enterprise and Circular Economy from the Bradford School of Management.