Meet the 2019 Judges
Our judging panel includes global leaders in design, business and export based in Asia, Europe, North America and Australia.
Dr Brandon Gien - CEO, Good Design Australia and Chair of Australia's Good Design Awards, NSW
Brandon has spent the last 20 years running Australia’s Good Design Awards Programme, one of the oldest and most respected design award programs in the world with origins dating back to the 1958.
Brandon is a Senator of the World Design Organization (since 2015) after serving as President from 2013-2015 and board Member from 2007-2013. Other roles include Shanghai City Government’s International Creative City Advisory Board. International Advisory Board of Srishti’s Institute of Art Design and Technology in India, jury member for the Singapore President’s Design Awards, the Korean Government’s Good Design Award, China’s Red Star Design Awards, the Taiwan Golden Pin Design Awards, Rado Design Prize Africa, Design for Asia Awards. Educated in Industrial Design, he also holds a PhD in Environmental Design from the University of Canberra’s School of Design and Architecture.
Dr. Gien was made a Design Ambassador to Japan, an international design advocacy role organised by the Japan Institute of Design Promotion (JDP).
He is currently an Adjunct Professor of Industrial Design at the University of Canberra and co-host of popular television series: Australia by Design Innovation on Network TEN and ONE.
Sally Dominguez - Program Director, Innovation Strategy & Design at Singularity University, San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA Multi-award-winning Designer.
USA based Australian Inventor, Adventurer and Educator, Sally’s unique blend of talents have led her on an extraordinary journey that includes manufacturing, invention, television and judging innovation.
Sally has consolidated her expansive experiences and design knowledge to create a new syllabus for expanded thinking and problem-solving called Adventurous Thinking. Sally teaches her thinking strategy in Australia, Brazil and at Stanford University in the USA and keynotes on the innovation mindset worldwide.
In 2012 Sally was named one of Advance Australia’s “50 for the Future” leading entrepreneurs in the USA. She has won more than 7 international product design awards and her Nest highchair is the Powerhouse Permanent Collection. In 2012 Sally and her co-driver were the first Australians to complete in the grueling Rallye De Gazelles eight-day race across Morocco. Sally has judged innovation and design around the world including a six-year stint on ABC TVs New Inventors. She is also a freelance journalist passionate about innovative design, design education, and spreading the word on future technologies for everyday life.
Rikard Orell - Global Design Director Volvo Trucks, Sweden
Rik Graduated with a Bachelor of Industrial Design from UniSA in Adelaide in 1982.
Now based in Gothenburg Sweden, Rik has been with Volvo Trucks since 1997 and currently leads their global design teams in Europe, Asia and North America.
On the value of Strategic Design, Rik says;
"Think big and don’t be afraid of business and politics. The world needs more designers in higher management positions to make design and design thinking part of company culture."
Tania Aldous- Vice President, Design Corelle Brands and Instant Brands, USA's #1 Small appliance brand
Tania is a Chicago based, Australian born design professional passionate about elevating the experience people have with products to make them useful, valuable, and memorable. She now leads experience design strategy for the fastest growing small appliance brand in the US, Instant Brand LLC, of Instant Pot fame, and globally recognized housewares brands, Pyrex, Corelle, and Corningware for Corelle Brands LLC.
She is proud to have formerly lead a talented team of designers as US Design Director for Whirlpool Corporation for brands that included Whirlpool, KitchenAid, and Maytag during her 10 years in Michigan before moving to Chicago.
Tania has been a speaker at the IIT Design Strategy Conference, IDSA regional conferences, judge of the Victorian Premiers Design Awards, and Jury Chair for the International Spark Awards. She was recognized in 2015 as Monash University Distinguished Alumni Award winner, Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture where she holds a B. Tech (Industrial Design) and B. Tech (Design) Honours.
Fabian Furrer - President International Business, Dongdao Creative Digital and Branding Group, Beijing, China
Swiss national Fabian Furrer studied politics at the University of California, Berkeley. He gathered his first work experience in the PR department of the European Union in Washington, D.C., before he emigrated to China, where he built the Chinese brand for LafargeHolcim, a Fortune Global 500 corporation. After that, he worked as the Managing Director at the Swiss-Chinese Chamber of Trade and Commerce for a number of years. During the past 7 years, he has been promoting the international development of Dongdao, China’s leading brand consulting company.
Professor Joanne Cys LFDIA, PhD, MArch, BA (IntDes), BA, SA
Pro Vice Chancellor: Division of Education, Arts and Social Sciences, University of South Australia
Joanne works in the applied areas of continuing professional education for design practitioners and education policy for the design profession. In 2016 she was inducted into Australia's Design Hall of Fame in recognition of her contributions to design policy, education and research. Joanne is highly engaged in national and international peak design bodies. Joanne was National President of the Design Institute of Australia (2008-2010) and has been Australia's representative to the Global Design Network and the Asia Pacific Space Designers Alliance.
Murray Camens - Global Design leader, Australia and Netherlands
Recently retired Vice President of TEAGUE Aviation Studios, Seattle, USA, Murray Camens was responsible for guiding TEAGUE’s design relationship with The Boeing Company. He started his professional career in 1977 with the London design consultancy, Conran Associates. After spending over thirty years managing programs and projects for Philips Design, Murray landed in Seattle in 2012 at TEAGUE’s invitation. His design roots run deep. Among other things, he co-designed the Roller Radio in 1983, which was heralded as one of 80 design icons in the book ‘Past Tense, Future Sense’.
In 2018, Murray joined Monash University as Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture. Having lived the last 40 years in London, the Netherlands, Singapore, Hong Kong and Seattle, the inveterate globetrotter from Australia considers the world a small place. During his career, Murray has been named inventor on 16 United States patents and is the recipient of numerous design awards in the United States, Europe and Asia. Originally from Adelaide, Murray studied Product Design at Torrens College of Advanced Education, School of Design, South Australia.
Dr Leah Heiss – Senior lecturer, Shool of Design, RMIT, Victoria
Leah is a Melbourne-based designer and RMIT academic who focuses on healthcare innovation. Her practice traverses device, service and experience and her process is deeply collaborative, working with experts from nanotechnology, engineering and health services through to manufacturing. Her wearable health technology projects include Diabetes Jewellery, which administers insulin through the skin for diabetics; biosignal sensing emergency jewellery; and swallowable devices to detect disease. Facett, the world’s first modular hearing aid that Leah designed for Blamey Saunders hears won 2018 Australian Good Design Award of the Year, the 2018 CSIRO Design Innovation Award, the Premier’s Design Award 2018 (Product Design), 3 Victorian Government iAwards and a Gold Melbourne Design Award. Leah’s work is part of Museums Victoria heritage collection and she has exhibited at galleries locally and globally. She teaches through RMIT’s Master of Design Futures and her teaching practice focuses on health sector innovation.
Dr Sam Bucolo – Design Thinker in Residence at Meat and Livestock Australia, QLD
Sam Bucolo is an Industrial Designer with over 30 years spanning industry and academia.
In addition to his role as Design Thinker in Residence with Meat and Livestock Australia, Sam is also Adjunct Professor of Design at Swinburne University, and a Judges the National Export Awards.
Sam has collaborated widely with a diverse set of industry partners and sectors, he has led many government initiatives on embedding design within organisations, has held several senior positions within Universities and has been a former entrepreneur.
He is the elected Australian board member and Vice President for Cumulus, which represents over 250 art, design and media universities in 48 countries.
Sam has recently published his inaugural book, “Are We There Yet: Insights on how to lead by design”, which presents many of the organisations he has partnered with to build design leadership to enhance their innovation efforts.
Angela DiFabio – Business Engagement Flinders University’s New Venture Institute, SA
Every touchpoint with your customer needs to be a positive experience and forms the fabric to building a loyal consumer base.
A culmination of 30 years work history across retail banking, hospitality, wine manufacturing and tertiary education has scoped a broad understanding in consumers’ needs and expectations, developing an acute aptitude of CX for building an organisation’s brand.
Building meaningful relationships for Flinders University’s New Venture Institute requires the time to explore and understand intimately the broad spectrum of interfaces, disciplines and possibilities for inspiring stakeholders to engage in building collaborative engagements, creating positive impact.
Josh McNally - Executive Director, Marketing, Brand and Communications. SA
With over twenty years’ experience in consumer marketing in both the private and not for profit sectors, Josh brings a consumer-first perspective to marketing and design. Josh has worked on some of Australia’s most loved and iconic brands both in Australia and across international markets. Brands such as Castrol GTX, the Hills Hoist and Jacob’s Creek have all given Josh an opportunity to explore consumer motivations to purchase, and the role good design plays in product application, promotion and brand growth. Josh was also the architect of Red25, the Red Cross Blood Service’s corporate social responsibility programme that now contributes over 25% of all of Australia’s blood donations. Most recently, he lead the Retail Division of South Australia’s preeminent advertising agency KWP!, and currently heads up Marketing, Brand & Communications at Business SA, South Australia’s peak industry body advocating and promoting the interests of business in that state.
Nicki Diance B Des ID - Director and Designer, Arketype Pty Ptd.
Nicki brings to the panel a high level of industrial design, graphic design and business development with a focus on customer experience. Prior to Arketype, Nicki also worked as a consultant industrial designer, a tutor at the University of South Australia and furniture designer at Nexus Furniture. She has been a Past Member of the Advisory committee for the Louis Laybourne School of Art, Architecture and Design.
John Reeves Taylor B Des ID USA GAICD - Designer and Founder, EMDG Group. SA
John is a Design and Export professional assisting Australian exporters with access to financial support for export market development. John understands the value of design as a business and economic strategy to drive export growth and advocating design is how he helps his clients to understand the needs of their overseas customers, turning complex business challenges into strategic advantages and export sales. John earned a Batchelor degree in Industrial Design in South Australia and his early career included design projects for Mitsubishi, SA Transport, Namco, Hill Industries and Sonicvision through his Design Consultancy, Emery Taylor Bernebach. He is also inventor of connectix™, connectawz ® and Splynewinder ® 3D printed products.
E. Tunde Juhasz B Des ID - Project Design Leader & Intellectual Property, Schneider Electric Aust
Based in Adelaide, Tunde is a highly skilled Industrial Designer & Project Leader currently responsible for leading design teams in Australia and overseas to meet Schneider Electric Strategic project directions. Her most recent developments have included Saturn ZEN and the new revolutionary range of “ICONIC” residential electrical accessories, both of which won a GOOD DESIGN AWARD. Tunde has been the corner stone behind many of Clipsal’s designs for the last 25 years.
She understands and participates in all aspects of product development and intellectual property within Schneider Electric as a part of their Global Offer Development Design team.
Judging Panel Moderator
Paul Huxtable, Good Design Ambassador, Design-led Business Developer, Design for Export Awards Founder, Judging Panel Moderator
Paul is an accomplished Product Designer and Business Developer with extensive global experience in Product Development, Manufacture, Commercialization, and Export. Educated in Industrial Design and Engineering, Paul’s career began in 1971 as a trainee in the Caroma Design team, and progressed to senior roles in Design, Marketing at two publicly listed companies including one of the first Australia/China Joint Ventures in Tianjin in 1985.
Between 1989 and 2008 Paul co-founded five consultancies in Product Design, Engineering and Exhibition Design with offices in Adelaide, Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur.
In 2004 Paul turned his attention to a global health and safety problem. The resulting design solution was a range of patented impact protection products protecting workers and assets in over 60 countries.
As a design team member, Paul has contributed to a long list national Design Award winning products over five decades including the Dunhill Industrial Design Prize in 1974, the Prince Phillip Design Prize in 1982, Telstra Business Awards in 1997 and 2015, a 2014 Business SA Export Award, and a long list of international patents.
Paul now helps Start-ups and Small businesses through the application of Design Led Business Strategies with Export focus.