Topic: Design Thinking

Nik Hafermaas

An internationally recognized and award-winning artist, designer and educational leader, Nik is a regular keynote speaker on creative leadership topics at conferences around the world.

Nik is a passionate advocate for creative strategies that address the relationship between breakthrough technology and being human.

An innovator and initiator of creative collaborations between industry, education, research, and social innovation, he founded the artist platform Ueberall International, specializing in exhibitions and art+tech installations that converge digital media and spatial experiences.

In his 14 years leading the undergraduate and graduate Graphic Design Departments at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, Nik has created a revolutionary transmedia curriculum that fuses print, packaging, motion and visual interaction design.

At the Berlin-Based innovation agency Graft Brandlab, Nik is expanding the creative integration of digital experiences into the physical environment in his role as Managing Partner, Creation.

David Schonthal

David Schonthal electrifies audiences with actionable tips for how to be a change-maker in today’s rapidly evolving world.

He is an award-winning Professor of Strategy, Innovation & Entrepreneurship at the Kellogg School of Management where he teaches courses on new venture creation, design thinking, healthcare innovation, venture capital and creativity.

Along with his colleague Loran Nordgren, David is one of the originators of Friction Theory – a ground-breaking methodology that explains why even the most promising innovations and change initiatives struggle to gain traction with their intended audiences – and more importantly, what to do about it.

This work is popularized in David’s Wall Street Journal and National Bestselling book, The Human Element: Overcoming the Resistance That Awaits New Ideas (Wiley). Outside of Kellogg David has been a practitioner of entrepreneurship, design, and innovation for over 20 years. He has spent a decade working at world-renowned design firm, IDEO, and currently serves as an Operating Partner at 7Wire Ventures, a healthcare technology- focused venture capital firm and a Venture Partner at Pritzker Group Venture Capital, a consumer and enterprise-focused fund. David is also a Global Advisor at Design for Ventures (D4V ), a Tokyo-based early-stage venture capital fund that invests in designed Japanese startups.

He is a contributing writer to Forbes, Inc., Fortune and Harvard Business Review magazines, authoring articles on entrepreneurship, innovation, change and business design. David was honored as a Distinguished Achievement Award Finalist and one of “30 Global Thinkers to Watch in 2022” by Thinkers50, an international organization that identifies, ranks, and shares the leading management ideas of our age. He has won Kellogg’s Executive MBA Outstanding Professor award 7 times and has received the school’s Faculty Impact Award for excellence in teaching.

As much as David would like to think he’s one-of-a-kind...he’s actually a triplet.

Ramak Radmard

Ramak Radmard is an award winning, creative and resourceful product development professional with a solid background in design, development, manufacturing, branding, product introductions, system thinking and business design. Ramak Radmard studied Industrial Design and Architecture at Carleton University. He worked as a Development Engineer for Rolls Royce before establishing Lucidream in 1999.

His work is a marriage of art and technology, the eloquent balance between form and function. His experience extends from aerospace, engineering, industrial design and architecture to business development and management of all aspects of design and distribution. He believes innovation should not come at the cost of functionality, honesty and purity of design. The distinguishing factor in any product lies in the value it adds to the user, in terms of functionality, aesthetics, price and the environmental impacts.