Design leadership amidst rapid change
Tues, April 15 | Smart Design's Brooklyn studio
Leading with purpose: Shaping what's next in a transforming world
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Smart Design is hosting an evening with Empathy, Murmur Ring, and the Institute of Design. Join designers and design leaders to explore the intersection of human experience with emerging technology and the global economy. Discuss designers’ responsibilities to lead organizations toward preferred future states and consider the value of embedded and embodied learning.
Four organizations come together to generate resourceful solutions as designers navigate and lead an era of rapid change:
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Smart Design, known for revolutionizing universal design with iconic products within the 35-year-old OXO brand, is an independent design firm investigating what universal design means in the age of AI.
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Empathy is bridging innovation between Latin America and the rest of the world, providing a lens on what can be learned from improvisational and adaptive human systems in emerging markets.
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Murmur Ring is an “antidote to the digital everything,” and specializes in immersive learning to discover new meaning and deeper connections to our livelihoods, communities, and the natural world.
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The Institute of Design (ID), known for pioneering human-centered design and systems design, is an international resource for designers, leaders, and changemakers who want to do better and face the future with a plan.
These themes will also be explored in two upcoming immersions hosted by Murmur Ring: the Shapeshift Global Summit Day 1 Immersion and the Reclaiming Value: Sacred Valley Design Immersion.
Agenda
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Meet our speakers
Richard Whitehall

Richard drives Smart's direction and operational success. His passion for using design and technology to create positive change is evident in his focus on client projects in mobility, emerging technology, health, and wellness. A champion for pushing boundaries, Richard consistently explores new ways to impact both organizations and individuals.
His exceptional work has earned him numerous accolades, including SDN Award, FastCo Innovation, IDEA Gold and D&AD awards. With a diverse background in engineering and design, and experience on design teams in the UK and Japan, Richard brings a global perspective to his leadership, and has served on the Design Management Institute’s advisory board since 2011.
Ashley Lukasik

Founder of Murmur Ring, Ashley Lukasik's passion is creating the conditions for collective creativity. She has built her career exposing organizations to human-centered design as a means to respond to complex challenges for which they do not have a preexisting roadmap. After completing an M.A. in Anthropology at the University of Chicago and running a medtech startup company, Ashley spent several years leading partnerships at the visionary design school, IIT Institute of Design, which inspired her to launch and co-produce The New Bauhaus feature documentary with Opendox. She produces immersive experiences and multimedia content worldwide that connect design pedagogy with emerging technology and culture. Her work has appeared in Architectural Digest, Design Milk, New York Times, Forbes, and more.
Wayne Suiter Matamoros
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Wayne is an human centric design leader with over a decade and a half of experience in applying design methodologies to complex challenges—from physical to digital to brand to corporate strategy and organizational design.
Prior to working with Empathy, Wayne was Chief Strategy Officer for Unreasonable, an environmental and social impact accelerator and VC, where he brought his experience to bear on the challenges our world faces and to help steer the company towards the future. Prior to this he held senior design leadership roles in a variety of innovation and design firms including Fjord (now Accenture Song), R/GA, SYPartners and more.
His belief in the power of design to drive positive impact is unwavering and it's what he dedicates both his professional and personal time to do. Outside of his day job, Wayne is an adjunct professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business. He also sits on the Board of Directors for Dreamyard, a Bronx- based non-profit that collaborates with Bronx youth, families, and schools to build pathways to equity and opportunity through the arts, and spends a lot of his free time mentoring young designers of color to change the face of the design industry.
Anijo Mathew

Anijo Mathew is Dean and a Professor at the Institute of Design focused on entrepreneurship and urban technology. His research evaluates new models of innovation enabled by technology and media convergence through the lenses of design fiction, design-led innovation, and entrepreneurship. He works with global organizations to adapt and change strategic responses to transforming technologies.
Anijo is the founder and board member of Vamonde, a Chicago storytelling app operating worldwide and named by Built in Chicago as one of six Chicago startups shaping the future of virtual reality.
A native of India, Anijo holds a PhD in Design Computing from The Open University in the United Kingdom, a Master in Design Studies from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, and a professional Bachelor of Architecture from Birla Institute of Technology Mesra in Ranchi, India. He has taught at Harvard University’s School of Business, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and Illinois Tech’s Stuart School of Business. Anijo served as Head of Department of Art and Design at the College of Architecture, Art and Design at the American University of Sharjah in the UAE from 2019 to 2021.

Getting to our studio
The closest entrances to our studio are the Cumberland St. and Sands St. entrance.
Please have your event confirmation email with you to show to the guard attendant to gain entry and let them know that you are here for a Smart Design event.