GSD Alumni Council Design Impact -
Event Speakers
The event brings together an outstanding roster of global leaders to share their work and vision, challenging us as a global community to use design as a tool for actionable, transformative change and healing.
ALNOOR LADHA
FOUNDER, BRAVE EARTH
BASED IN COSTA RICA
Alnoor’s work focuses on the intersection of political organizing, systems thinking, structural change and narrative work. He was the co-founder and Executive Director of The Rules and is currently the board chair of Culture Hack Labs. He is also a co-founder of Brave Earth (Tierra Valiente), an alternative community based in the northwestern jungle of Costa Rica.
Panel Speaker in SESSION 2 on 09.24.20
ANACLÁUDIA ROSSBACH
REGIONAL MANAGER (LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN), CITIES ALLIANCE
BASED IN MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
An economist and urban specialist, has been working for 20 years as a practitioner and researcher for international organizations, local and national governments, universities and NGOs. Currently she is Regional Manager for the Latin America and Caribbean at Cities Alliance.
Panel Speaker in SESSION 1 on 09.24.20
ANNE QUINTO
JOURNALIST AND DESIGN CRITIC
BASED IN NEW YORK, NY
A staff reporter at Quartz, her coverage underscores the design angle of politics and business news. She is the first recipient of the Steven Heller Prize for Cultural Commentary. Anne wrote Mag Men: Fifty Years of Making Magazines, (2019) a book about the glory days of magazine design. She graduated from Georgetown University with a master’s degree in Visual Culture and is an alumna of the School of Visual Arts Design Criticism MFA where she wrote a thesis on the nation branding of the world's newest nation, South Sudan.
Panel Speaker in SESSION 3 on 09.24.20
BRYAN C. LEE, JR
ARTIST, EDUCATOR, ARCHITECT & DESIGN JUSTICE ADVOCATE. BASED IN NEW ORLEANS, LA.
Bryan is the founder/Design Director of Colloqate Design a nonprofit multidisciplinary design practice, in New Orleans, Louisiana, dedicated to expanding community access to design and creating spaces of racial, social, and cultural equity. He has led two award-winning youth design programs nationwide and is the founding co-organizer of the DAP (Design As Protest) Collective. He was most recently noted as one of the 2018 Fast Company Most Creative People in Business, a USC Annenberg MacArthur Civic Media Fellow, and the youngest design firm to win the Architectural League’s Emerging Voices award in 2019.
Panel Speaker in SESSION 3 on 09.24.20
COURTNEY D.
SHARPE
FORMER DIRECTOR OF CULTURAL PLANNING FOR THE CITY OF BOSTON, CURRENT MBA CANDIDATE AT MIT SLOAN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
Courtney D. Sharpe is an urban planner and strategist dedicated to uplifting equity at the systems and organizational level. Most recently the Director of Cultural Planning for the City of Boston she is pursuing an MBA at MIT with plans to join the corporate sector to combat environmental justice abuses through improving business practice.
Panel Speaker in SESSION 3 on 09.24.20
CHERYL D. MILLER
FOUNDER OF CHERYL D. MILLER DESIGN, THE CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS DESIGN FIRM THAT DEFINED THE CIVIL RIGHTS ERA. BASED IN NEW YORK, NY.
Creator of Cheryl D. Miller Design, Inc. she serviced corporate communications to Fortune 500 clientele. She is best known for her D&I advocacy for Black graphic designers and her social impact graphic and corporate communications. Renowned in her field, she is the recipient of Awards of Excellence from the PIA Awards, Neenah Paper Awards, Art Directors Club Awards, Desi Awards, Peabody Awards, Ceba Award, and Broadcast Design Awards.
Panel Speaker in SESSION 3 on 09.24.20
EDWARD MÜLLER
FOUNDER, UNIVERSITY FOR INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION
BASED IN COSTA RICA
An environmentalist, scientist, activist and founder of the University for International Cooperation. He is a global leader in the promotion and advocacy of regenerative development and design, the next level of innovative solutions that elevate the progression needed to end damaging global patterns.
Panel Speaker in SESSION 2 on 09.24.20
HITESH MEHTA
FOUNDER, HM DESIGN
BASED IN FORT LAUDERDALE, FL
An eco-landscape architect, eco-architect, and environmental planner with over 33 years of experience working across the globe in 65 countries on six continents. Hitesh’s firm HM Design, endorses a quadruple bottom line philosophy – one that balances economic, environmental, social and spiritual aspects for every project.
Panel Speaker in SESSION 2 on 09.24.20
INÊS MAGALHÃES
FORMER NATIONAL HOUSING SECRETARY AND MINISTER OF CITIES, SENIOR HOUSING EXPERT
BASED IN SAO PAULO, BRAZIL
A sociologist and senior consultant for UN-Habitat and the World Bank. National Housing Secretary and Minister of Cities in Brazil between 2003 - 2016. She restructured the housing sector with the largest slum upgrading and housing programs in the world.
Panel Speaker in SESSION 1 on 09.24.20
IVAN SHUMKOV
FOUNDER, BUILD ACADEMY
PRINCIPAL, IVAN SHUMKOV ARCHITECTS
BASED IN NEW YORK, NY
An entrepreneur, architect, professor and the founder of Build Academy - an organization dedicated to providing professional solutions and education for the built environment. He is also the principal of Ivan Shumkov Architects, operating at the intersection of architecture, design, urbanism and technology.
Panel Speaker in SESSION 2 on 09.24.20
JACQUELYN IYAMAH
USER EXPERIENCE DESIGNER
BASED IN CALIFORNIA
Jacquelyn Iyamah is a User Experience Designer who is passionate about health and wellness. She has a degree in Social Welfare from the University of California, Berkeley, and a degree in User Experience Design from the University of Baltimore. She uses the skills from both industries to design digital and physical spaces that center the well-being of marginalized communities such as women, and Black, Indigenous and people of color.
Panel Speaker in SESSION 3 on 09.24.20
JEFA GREENWAY
RAIA MDIA KNOWLEDGE BROKER
LECTURER - INDIGENOUS CURRICULUM, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE
BASED IN MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Jefa Greenaway is currently Knowledge Broker | Lecturer at the University of Melbourne. He’s championed Indigenous led design thinking for over 25 years as a registered architect in NSW and VIC, including as co-founder of the not-for-profit advocacy group Indigenous Architecture + Design Victoria, as co-author of the International Indigenous Design Charter, and as Regional Ambassador (Oceania) of INDIGO (International Indigenous Design Network).
Panel Speaker in SESSION 3 on 09.24.20
JENNIFER MUSISI
FORMER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, KAMPALA CITY LEADER IN RESIDENCE, BLOOMBERG HARVARD CITY LEADERSHIP INITIATIVE
BASED IN CAMBRIDGE, MA
The City Leader in Residence at the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative. She previously served as the Executive Director for Kampala City Capital Authority leading the development of the capital of Uganda. Committed to cause compliance and for fighting corruption.
Panel Speaker in SESSION 1 on 09.24.20
JORGE MARIO JAUREGUI
ARCHITECT AND URBAN PLANNER, FAVELA-BAIRRO PROGRAM
BASED IN RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
An architect and urban planner worked on urban transformation in more than 20 favelas. He was awarded the Veronica Rudge Green Prize from Harvard GSD; and he is a finalist of the Mies van der Rohe architecture Prize Latin America.
Panel Speaker in SESSION 1 on 09.24.20
MAREN COSTA
FOUNDING MEMBER, AMAZON EMPLOYEES FOR
CLIMATE CHANGE
BASED IN SEATTLE, WA
A design leader with over 25 years of experience at tech companies including Adobe and Amazon. She is also a founding member and leader of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice. Currently focused on projects centered at the intersection of design, technology, justice, and a sustainable future.
Panel Speaker in SESSION 2 on 09.24.20
SAMEH WAHBA
GLOBAL DIRECTOR, WORLD BANK'S URBAN
DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT
RESILIENCE AND LAND GLOBAL PRACTICE
BASED IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
Global Director for the World Bank’s Urban, Disaster Risk Management, Resilience and Land Global Practice with a $30 billion in lending commitments. Prior, he worked for the Institute of Housing and Urban Development Studies and the Harvard Center for Urban Development Studies.
Panel Speaker in SESSION 1 on 09.24.20
SHEELA PATEL
DIRECTOR OF SOCIETY FOR PROMOTION OF AREA RESOURCE CENTRES (SPARC)
CHAIRPERSON, SLUM/SHACK DWELLER INTERNATIONAL
BASED IN MUMBAI, INDIA
Director of the Society for Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC) recognized for seeking urgent attention to issues of urban poverty, housing and infrastructure onto the radar of governments, international agencies, foundations, etc. Founding member of Slum/Shack Dwellers International (SDI).
SESSION 1 on 09.24.20
SUSAN JONES
FOUNDER, ATELIERJONES
BASED IN SEATTLE, WA
A practicing architect and founder of atelierjones in 2003. Her work entwines design, research, and community engagement to create sustainable urban projects: of sites, buildings, materials, waste, and ways of living. The firm’s current research focuses on Cross Laminated Timber and its applications.