Chair: Kyle Schruder RGD, Toronto, ON

Vice Chair: Amanda Bolte RGD, Komoka, ON

As an award-winning designer and Creative Director bringing with her over 20 years experience to fast-paced studio environments, Amanda has lead creative teams for clients such as Tim Hortons, A&W, Harley Davidson, Labatt Breweries, FCA Canada (Chrysler), Jolly Jumper and more producing packaging, branding, print, photography, digital signage and new media. Her well-versed knowledge in brand development has also successfully launched new businesses and products across North America. 
 

Catherine Charbonneau RGD, Montreal, QC

Passionate about the grid and typography, Catherine is a bilingual book designer based in Québec. Her core values are simplicity and inclusiveness. In 2014, Catherine obtained a bachelor in Design at Concordia University. She worked many years at Groupe d’édition la courte échelle as a designer and production manager where her work was recognized by Applied Arts and the Alcuin Society Book Design Awards.Eager to explore new subjects, she recently started the solopreneur adventure. Her high quality standards, attention to detail and organizational skills are assets that she likes to share with her collaborators to create work that exceeds expectations.

 

Peter Colleran RGD, Toronto, ON

Peter is a designer and art director who brings over two decades of experience designing and collaborating on projects from small start-up launches to multi-national campaigns. His experience ranges from banking and commercial collaborations to the not-for-profit sector and retail. Some of his current and past clients include AGO, AMEX, Bell, The CNE, Cadillac Fairview, Dynamic Funds, GM Canada, Honda Canada, JLR, Pepsi, RBC, ROM, Scotiabank, Tim Hortons, TD Bank, Rogers.

Bianca DiPietro RGD, Toronto, ON

Bianca has over 10 years of experience in design, ranging from traditional branding to experiential and digital design. Currently Bianca is interested in discovering meaningful work and finding ways to uncover personal impact within the design discipline. This extends into creating engaging educational environments for her students and bringing real world experiences into the college ecosystem. She’s participated in some international initiatives that have shed light on happiness within the educational space and wishes to explore this further.

Mélissa Deschênes RGD, Sudbury, ON

Melissa is a queer-francophone creative director and partner at Design de Plume, a design firm. She is passionate about 2SLGBTQIA+, gender rights and inclusiveness. She specializes in management of creative staff, conceptual idealization, translating goals into effective campaign strategies and shaping brand standards. Her ability to make inspiring, informative visuals have given her expertise in storytelling complex ideas. As a previous educator and sports coach, Melissa leads the creative team with motivation and self determination.

Amy Janzen RGD, Toronto, ON

Amy is an in-house graphic and multimedia designer at Mercatus Technologies. She started in technical illustration and loves how design and illustration work together to communicate.
 

Carolyn Harman RGD, Ottawa, ON

Carolyn Harman RGD is a bilingual graphic designer, creative principal and graphic design mentor with over two decades designing and managing successful creative strategies for the likes of Chrysler, General Dynamics Mission Systems–Canada, the City of Ottawa and the Senate of Canada. She brings a unique approach to managing the relationship between strategic client requirements and visual implementation and has led teams to turn simple to complex project plans into elevated, appropriate solutions her clients love.

Michelle Hopgood RGD, Toronto, ON

Michelle is Founder, Creative Designer and Information Specialist at Hopgood Creative. She helps researchers, academics and thinkers use the power of design to explain complex ideas. With over 15 years of experience in design, information, knowledge and information management, Michelle brings a unique perspective to clients and business. She holds a Bachelor of Design from OCAD University, and a Master of Information from the University of Toronto. Michelle has an unshakeable commitment to making complex ideas beautiful to help her clients get media attention, teach courses, and reach a wide audience.

Kerri MacLeod RGD, Kawartha Lakes, ON

Kerri is a multidisciplinary graphic designer and information architect with programming skills. As a strategically-focused designer with a passion for accessibility, Kerri has been assisting companies with their branding, marketing and user-experience needs for over 10 years. With proven leadership abilities, Kerri has been instructing clients and colleagues on accessible design and helping the next generation of young girls learn to code.

Gordon McLean RGD, Winnipeg, MB

As a Creative Leader, Business Partner and Artist, Gordon combines extensive industry experience with a passion for elevating the understanding and appreciation of design and its significance, rationale and technique. Gordon’s projects include the design of identity and branding systems, publications and promotional materials through to large scale trade fair environments for global brands. With a focus on the industrial manufacturing and medical sectors, his agency and the corporate in-house experience is invaluable in support their unique challenges.

Alana McFarlane RGD, Vancouver, BC

Alana is a creative strategist focused on leading throughout the phases of a project lifecycle, from brainstorming to creative execution. With a history of artistic and creative direction, she has a passion for multimedia storytelling and how it connects brands to people. As a critical thinker and designer, Alana envisions the long range impact of campaigns on brand, stakeholders and future collaborators. Alana has a BA in Philosophy from the University of British Columbia and studied 2D design, film, video and integrated media at Emily Carr University of Art + Design.

Silvia Stanziola RGD, Ottawa, ON

Silvia is an Ottawa-based graphic designer and illustrator, working with a wide-range of graphic design projects in-house at Canada Post since 2012. Originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Silvia also holds a Bachelor's degree in Communications/Advertising (PUC-Rio) and a 1-year post-graduation course in Marketing (IAG PUC-Rio).

Victor Szeto RGD, Toronto, ON

Victor is the Creative Director at Green Living Enterprises. Victor brings more than a decade of invaluable visual knowledge to the table. Projects he’s been involved with include environmental graphics, campaigns and collateral for the ROM, Cineplex, Scotiabank, Toronto Hydro, the Pembina Institute, University of Toronto, Eva’s Initiatives and the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression.

 

 

 

 

Emma Tarswell RGD, Toronto, ON

Combining creativity and strategy, Emma Tarswell is the Manager, Strategy & Design at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR). As an in-house designer, she has led design for print, digital, and multimedia projects and campaigns, and is the creative director for CIFAR’s annual magazine, Reach.