Winterhouse Fourth Symposium on Design Education and Social Innovation: Participants

Scott is Program Coordinator and co-author of the Masters in Design for Sustainability at SCAD, and professor in Design for Sustainability. He’s the author of 3 books, and has published over a dozen short stories in respected literary journals. Scott is co-founder and president of Emergent Structures, a non-profit organization dedicated to innovative, community-based material reclamation and re-use. Scott also founded SCAD’s Design Ethos conference and ‘DO-ference,’ a workshop-based conference that brings together design practitioners with community leaders in order to address pressing social and economic concerns within the local community. He speaks internationally on design and sustainability, and holds a masters from Pratt Institute. 

Rodrigo Canales researches the role of institutions in entrepreneurship and economic development. Specifically, Rodrigo’s work seeks to understand how individuals purposefully enact organizational and institutional change. Rodrigo has done work in entrepreneurial finance and microfinance. As he continues his work on microfinance he is also conducting research in the institutional complexities of renewable energy and the institutional implications of the Mexican war on drugs. Rodrigo teaches the Innovator Perspective at Yale SOM; he sits in the steering committee of the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT; and he advises startups in Mexico that seek to improve the financing environment for small firms. 

Charlie Cannon co-founded the Innovation Studio at RISD to confront pressing issues of our day through interdisciplinary collaboration, social entrepreneurship and design research. The studio’s projects have been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rhode Island Renewable Energy Fund, the RISD Research Foundation and the City of Denver. Cannon is also Chief Design Officer for the EPIC Decade, a purpose-driven, strategy and innovation, design studio.

William Drenttel is a partner at Winterhouse, a design practice in New Haven, Connecticut, focused on social innovation, online media, and educational institutions. He is also V.P. Marketing and Communications for Teach For All, an international education network, and a advisory board member of the Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation and ideo.org. Through the Winterhouse Institute, he is leading a series of initiatives (funded by the Rockefeller Foundation 2009-2011) to develop models for design and social innovation. Drenttel is president emeritus of AIGA and a senior faculty fellow at the Yale School of Management. He is the editorial director of Design Observer, a leading website focused on design, social innovation, urbanism and cultural commentary.

In 2008, Liz co-founded Design for America, a new and rapidly growing organization for college campuses that inspires students to use design to create local and social impact. In the process, students prepare to drive human centered innovation throughout their careers. Previously, Liz taught at Stanford’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (aka the d.school). In 2008 she completed a PhD at the Center for Work, Technology, and Organization and a MS in Product Design at Stanford University. She researches how work practices and technology influences innovation.

Phil is the graduate director of the School of Graphic Design at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, the largest private art and design school in the country. Prior to the Academy, Phil was communications director at Turner & Associates, and director of creative services for EAI/Atlanta (now known as “Unboundary”). Phil also works at setting the agenda for sustainable business practice within the design community. He founded Compostmodern, a design conference devoted to sustainability, and is a co-author of the Living Principles for Design, a comprehensive framework to guide the development of sustainable design solutions. Phil also serves as a national board member for AIGA.

David Mohney is the co-author of three books: Seaside: Making a Town in America, The Houses of Philip Johnson, and The Louisville Architecture Guide; he is working on a book about contemporary design In Rotterdam. David has taught at the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies, Harvard Graduate School of Design, and SCI-Arc. He was educated at Cranbrook School, Harvard College and Princeton’s School of Architecture. David was the Founding Secretary of the Curry Stone Design Prize, a global award for design ideas that promote a better world, and he is presently forming a consortium of international design schools focused on Social Urbanism.

At Parsons, Lara Penin coordinates the Area of Study of Service Design and through Parsons DESIS Lab she promotes Design and Social Innovation within curriculum and lead projects such as ‘Amplifying Creative Communities’ awarded with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. She holds a PhD in Industrial Design and Multimedia Communication from Milan Polytechnic University in Italy and a BA in Architecture and Urbanism from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Since 2007, Natacha Poggio has been developing strategic design projects that promote sustainable development and awareness of global issues. Her research fosters interdisciplinary partnerships that bring positive social change at local, national, and international levels. She is the founder of Design Global Change, a collaborative of students and alumni helping local and international communities through service-learning projects. As the 2010 recipient of a Sappi Ideas that Matter grant, she spearheads a project promoting gender equality in India. A native of Buenos Aires, she holds an MFA in Design from the University of Texas at Austin.

Anthony Sheldon

Lecturer in Economic Development & Executive Director of the Program on Social Enterprise, Yale School of Management

[email protected]

Tony Sheldon has been executive director of Yale School of Management’s Program on Social Enterprise since 2008, and lecturer in economic development since 2007. He teaches practicum courses on social entrepreneurship, as well as a course on microfinance. He is also the founder and principal of Bering Consulting, which works with microfinance institutions in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, primarily in the areas of financial management and business planning. Tony has also worked with several development finance networks and funders, including the Ford Foundation, the World Bank, the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), ShoreBank International, and Women’s World Banking.  

Tonkinwise is an Associate Professor, director of Design Studies and chair of the Doctoral Design Program Committee at Carnegie Mellon University. Formerly the chair of Design Thinking and Sustainability for the School of Design Strategies at Parsons The New School for Design, Tonkinwise was responsible for developing offerings in the areas of strategy, sustainability and service design. He was also the Co-Chair of the Tishman Environment Design Center, managing the New School’s university-wide degree programs in Environmental Studies, and was a founding member of the Parsons DESIS Lab (Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability). Cameron’s current research concerns lowering societal materials intensity by decoupling use and ownership — in short, sharing.

Mike Weikert 

Director of the Social Design (MA) and Center for Design Practice

Maryland Institute College of Art