DMI added Richard Whitehall, Vice President, Industrial Design, Smart Design, and Brian Gillespie, Director, Experience Design Strategy, MediaCatalyst, to the organization's Advisory Council. Whitehall and Gillespie join other international design leaders to advise and council on DMI programs and activities.
Richard Whitehall is a VP and partner at Smart Design where he leads the Industrial Design practice. Inspired by people's everyday encounters with bad design but also the bigger problems facing society and business, he helps clients to connect the emotional and the practical to solve design challenges across a range of industries. Richard also leads Smart's initiative on sustainability through design, and mentors thought leadership throughout the company.
Since joining Smart Design in 2002, Richard has worked on many projects and with a variety of clients; highlights include a range of strategic projects across HP's divisions, over 100 products on the markets for OXO, inspirational design archetype projects for Panasonic, and numerous innovation programs in the consumer packaged goods industry.
Brian Gillespie has been leading strategy and design teams in the creation of digital product, service, and communication experiences since the early '90s when he joined Vertigo, a small Cambridge, MA start-up. At Vertigo he led the interface design of numerous interactive cd-rom's for a wide range of clients including Fidelity, Houghton-Mifflin, and Standard and Poor's and also several co-branded titles with such luminaries as Tom Peters and Peter Lynch. From 1998-2001, as Director of Creative Services of Event Zero, Brian built the team from the ground up to more than 30 design consultants in three locations, designing the fundamental business interfaces for more than 20 web start-ups.
"As a member of the Advisory Board," says Brian Gillespie, "I want bring my deep passion and support for the organization and what it stands for to drive its continued success in the years ahead. Just as it had a powerful influence on expanding my horizons, DMI can bring new insights to a new generation of young emerging business and design strategists!"
The DMI Advisory Council serves as a bridge between DMI and its constituents in the community and to complement and strengthen the organization's functions. Becoming a member of the Advisory Council is both an honor, signifying significant accomplishment in the industry, and a responsibility to contribute to the organization and the profession.