Nicola is an independent art director and graphic designer, who specializes in editorial design. Her work has been internationally recognized by the D&AD, the Society of Publication Designers, and the National Magazine Awards, among others. She has held positions as art director at Studio Wyse, deputy art director at Chatelaine and associate art director at The Grid. An educator as well, Nicola teaches design at both Humber College and George Brown College.

Wendy is the Design Manager at Empire Life and has an extensive background with in-house design management. With over 18 years of experience, she’s led several design rebrands in the technology and financial services sectors.

She is a graduate, advisory board member and mentor for St. Lawrence College Graphic Design Program. Wendy’s formula for successful in-house design is to deliver high quality, award-winning work AND exceptional partnership with internal stakeholders.

Julian is the designer and entrepreneur behind the motion design studio ON THE CHASE!. At ten years old, OTC! has won international awards and collaborated with diverse clients—from Canadian household names like Cineplex and Shoppers Drug Mart, to video game maker Ubisoft and charity WWF. He is a graduate of the York/Sheridan Design Degree program, a world traveller and most recently a proud and terrified father.

With over 18 years of experience as a professional graphic designer,  Faron had the great pleasure of working with clients in many different sectors, gaining experience in visual identity, print, web and user interface design. In his current position as Lead Instructor, Graphic Design at McKenzie College, he loves the opportunity to pass his experience onto the next generation of designers, mentoring and managing them in a project-based studio environment.

Jennifer is founding Partner at Design de Plume, a firm in Sudbury. She is heavily involved in the Sudbury Design Society as a past VP and current Treasurer. She graduated from Cambrian College’s Graphic Design program and has a degree in Communication from Laurentian University.

Elyse is a Senior Graphic Designer and Project Manager at Patch Design. From developing comprehensive branding systems to designing web and print materials, she uses her passion and curiosity to identify optimal solutions for her clients. Elyse is a life-long student with over 12 years experience. She graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design and earned a diploma in Marketing from McMaster University.

Victor is the Creative Director at Green Living Enterprises. He is a graduate of York University and Sheridan College’s Design program and has been a long standing RGD since his student membership more than a decade ago. His work spans environmental, print and digital media with a focus on social responsibility, cause marketing and sustainability. He’s been involved on projects with organizations that scale from local to large including TD Bank, Eva’s Initiatives for Homeless Youth, the Green Living Show, the ROM and Canadian Journalists for Free Expression. 

As a graduate of the OCAD U, Ian brings a creative curiosity and influence to the design research work he does across a spectrum of corporate, healthcare and academic pursuits. As Founder of Pivot Design Group, his professional focus is in the healthcare vertical, bringing a people-centric design focus to the work Pivot creates for researchers, scientists and institutions. He is also the founder of DesignMeets, a 10-year in the making event forum to bring the design conversation to the community.

Bianca is a Program Coordinator & Professor at Humber College in the Graphic Design Program. She 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.

Alison is a creative director with over 20 years of global and national design, advertising and digital. Through the course of her award-winning career, Alison’s work has spanned various industries including automotive, retail, consumer-packaged goods, professional services, telecommunications and not-for-profit. She is a Partner at the Toronto-based creative studio, Field Trip & Co.

James is a multi-disciplinary design director and design entrepreneur whose work encompasses visual communication design. He has a BFA in Communication Design with honours from Pratt Institute and an MFA in Design from the School of Visual Arts. His work has been recognized by North American publications including Communication Arts, Graphic Design USA and Print. He has gathered many design experiences with in-house, studio and freelance work. James was a senior designer in the graphic design and digital media team at the Museum of Modern Art. He is founder of the design studio Design Platform. In addition, James is a professor at the University of Guelph-Humber, focusing on production design, typography, graphic design and design business.

Norm is Creative Director and founder of Toronto-based Truth and Dare (formerly K9 strategy+design). Norm has 25 years of experience in creating strategies to execute branding and publication design for many of Canada’s small independent to large multi-title publishers and countless entrepreneurial, professional and non-profit clients with their design and communications opportunities.

Kathleen is an award-winning designer with 15 years experience. For the past decade, she has been Creative Strategy Team Lead at Bruce Power where they deliver all things design, including a complete rebrand for the company
in 2019. In 2017, they were honoured to be the design partner for RGD’s In-House Design Awards.