Speakers
Philip Glass
Through his operas, his symphonies, his compositions for his own ensemble, and his wide-ranging collaborations with artists ranging from Twyla Tharp to Allen Ginsberg, Woody Allen to David Bowie, Philip Glass has had an extraordinary and unprecedented impact upon the musical and intellectual life of his times.
The operas – “Einstein on the Beach,” “Satyagraha,” “Akhnaten,” and “The Voyage,” among many others – play throughout the world’s leading houses, and rarely to an empty seat. Glass has written music for experimental theater and for Academy Award-winning motion pictures such as “The Hours” and Martin Scorsese’s “Kundun,” while “Koyaanisqatsi,” his initial filmic landscape with Godfrey Reggio and the Philip Glass Ensemble, may be the most radical and influential mating of sound and vision since “Fantasia.” His associations, personal and professional, with leading rock, pop and world music artists date back to the 1960s, including the beginning of his collaborative relationship with artist Robert Wilson. Indeed, Glass is the first composer to win a wide, multi-generational audience in the opera house, the concert hall, the dance world, in film and in popular music — simultaneously.
He was born in 1937 and grew up in Baltimore. He studied at the University of Chicago, the Juilliard School and in Aspen with Darius Milhaud. Finding himself dissatisfied with much of what then passed for modern music, he moved to Europe, where he studied with the legendary pedagogue Nadia Boulanger (who also taught Aaron Copland , Virgil Thomson and Quincy Jones) and worked closely with the sitar virtuoso and composer Ravi Shankar. He returned to New York in 1967 and formed the Philip Glass Ensemble – seven musicians playing keyboards and a variety of woodwinds, amplified and fed through a mixer.
The new musical style that Glass was evolving was eventually dubbed “minimalism.” Glass himself never liked the term and preferred to speak of himself as a composer of “music with repetitive structures.” Much of his early work was based on the extended reiteration of brief, elegant melodic fragments that wove in and out of an aural tapestry. Or, to put it another way, it immersed a listener in a sort of sonic weather that twists, turns, surrounds, develops.
There has been nothing “minimalist” about his output. In the past 25 years, Glass has composed more than twenty operas, large and small; eight symphonies (with others already on the way); two piano concertos and concertos for violin, piano, timpani, and saxophone quartet and orchestra; soundtracks to films ranging from new scores for the stylized classics of Jean Cocteau to Errol Morris’s documentary about former defense secretary Robert McNamara; string quartets; a growing body of work for solo piano and organ. He has collaborated with Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Yo-Yo Ma, and Doris Lessing, among many others. He presents lectures, workshops, and solo keyboard performances around the world, and continues to appear regularly with the Philip Glass Ensemble.
Biography by Tim Page, www.philipglass.com/bio
Sandy Speicher
Sandy Speicher is one of the leaders of IDEO’s Transformation practice, focusing on the design of learning tools and experiences. Sandy has led and contributed to a range of programs in industries such as telecommunications, healthcare, and education. Much of her work has been with schoolteachers, students, and administrators, exploring how design thinking can contribute to systems of P-12 education. Prior to joining IDEO, Sandy taught Visual Communications at Washington University in St. Louis and to fifth graders in San Francisco. Much of her career was spent at MetaDesign San Francisco working with clients such as the Denver Art Museum, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Palm, Netflix, Ernst & Young, and Wells Fargo. Sandy holds an MA in Education from Stanford University and a BFA in Visual Communications from Washington University in St. Louis. She is currently a strategic advisor for the K-12 Lab at Stanford’s d.school, and is a member of the advisory board for the Learning, Design and Technology program at Stanford.
www.ideo.com/thinking/voice/sandy-speicher
Challis Hodge
Challis Hodge is an Experience Strategist, change agent, and business leader whose core expertise lies in building organizations, processes, infrastructure and teams that deliver user-centered products, services, software and Internet solutions. He has been instrumental in the evolution of methods and processes that bring human perspective to the application of technology, ultimately creating and retaining business value. Challis is widely regarded as a thought leader in the user experience and design industries.Currently Challis is Vice President User Experience at the Nielsen Company where he oversees user experience across online products. Previously Challis was Vice President of User Experience at Bridge Worldwide a WPP company. Prior to Bridge Worldwide Challis was Director of User Experience for the central Region at Avenue A | Razorfish ranked by Ad Age as the largest Interactive Agency. Before joining Avenue A | Razorfish he was a Consultant to Management in the areas of Research, Innovation, Interactive Strategy, and Customer Experience.
Challis was also CEO and co-founder of HannaHodge where he provided vision, business direction and industry insight for one of the industries pioneering user experience firms. HannaHodge broke new ground in combining rigorous user-centered design and testing methods, research methods from anthropology and the social sciences, business strategy and advanced technology all combined in one customer-centered process.
He brings with him an extensive range of leadership and hands-on experience in the study of relationships between computers and people. Challis was preparing for a career in Human-Computer Interaction in the field’s earliest stages. In the early 80’s he did extensive studies in fine art, engineering, and psychology before embarking on a 5 year undergraduate degree in industrial design at the University of Cincinnati. He later returned to the University of Cincinnati to earn a Master of Design degree in Human-Computer Interaction.
Challis has led a number of initiatives to advance the study of relationships between computers and people. Prior to founding HannaHodge, he participated in the early development of the IBM Global Services consulting business. There, he developed user interface solutions and strategies for companies in the automotive, banking and technology industries. While specializing in research for the creation of digital branding strategies, emotion and user experience in interactive products, he led the charge for the design of such products as handheld and portable devices.
In addition, he has held academic posts at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Cincinnati where he was active in governance and curriculum development. He taught courses such as digital media, human-computer interaction, interface design, industrial design, computer graphics, 2D and 3D animation and design visualization/communication. In addition he was responsible for running the University of Cincinnati’s 150-seat Computer Graphics Center.
Challis is active in a variety of organizations including Design Management Institute (DMI), American Center for Design (ACD), American Institute of Graphic Art - Advance for Design (AIGA), Usability Professionals’ Association (UPA) and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM / SIGCHI). He holds a BS in Industrial Design and a Masters of Design in Human-Computer Interaction from the University of Cincinnati.
Rick Mariani
Rick Mariani provides creative direction for Procter & Gamble’s Family Care brands, including Charmin and Puffs, as well as for a variety of non-P&G clients. Rick’s current role, running Cincinnati’s creative department, allows him to be involved with each design team to help guide their creative work.
One of the things Rick likes best about his position is being able to mentor junior staff. As he guides younger designers through each project, he advises them that listening is an important skill that all graphic designers should develop – listening to clients, to other creative experts in the Interbrand global network and, most importantly, to the consumer. Rick believes that listening allows designers to identify problems and challenges so they can leverage Interbrand’s expertise to deliver a successful brand experience.
Rick has spent more than a decade as a graphic designer. After earning a BFA in graphic design from Eastern Kentucky University, he spent several years working for the Optimum Group (later CoActive), where he rose to the position of Design Director. During his tenure, Rick consulted with and designed marketing materials for brands such as Corona, Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Sony, Coca-Cola and Disney. Rick joined Interbrand in May 2004 as a Senior Designer; he was later promoted to Creative Director and, in 2008, to his current position as Senior Creative Director.
In addition to his work in Family Care, Rick leads creative work for AT&T, Sanford, Valvoline, Covidien, Xerox and Wendy’s, among others.
Shane Meeker
Shane Meeker is an Associate Design Fellow in the Procter & Gamble Design Function. P&G is the largest consumer products company in the world and over the last 12 years there he has been fortunate to work in almost all of their businesses – fabric and home care, health care, baby care, beauty care and food and beverage. He is currently working within the Corporate Design Function where he helps develop new company innovation tools, methods and processes that are utilized across areas ranging from disruptive innovation, group inspiration, targeted brand initiatives, storytelling, organizational structure and new consumer testing and targeting practices.
His formal background is in Industrial Design. At P&G he has spent most of career managing and leading design across multi-functional project teams, working on initiatives ranging from product design, graphic design, holistic strategy development, brand architecture and in-store theater. A little over 3 years ago he began to focus on understanding the principles of storytelling, creating group inspirational exercises, environments and projects and how to change the lens a project team (or management) looks at an idea through. When it comes to storytelling he has studied all its faces, ranging from entertainment, mythology, its use in human learning, brand development, experience creation, innovation and lastly, its execution in various mediums.
Shane is a native of rural Ohio and grew up in a small farming town called Ft. Loramie (which is about 45 minutes north of Dayton). He took an interest in Industrial Design while attending a special effects exhibit at the Columbus College of Art & Design. Shane was already at The Ohio State University studying genetic engineering but then immediately moved over to the OSU ID program. Following a handful of internships he ended up taking a job at P&G in 1997. Shane lives in Cincinnati with his wife and 3 kids.
His favorite past times are playing Wii with his kids, camping, playing lead guitar in a classic rock band called Soapbox, reading any book on the idea and philosophy of storytelling, collecting antiques, watching movies and playing the Xbox 360 online with friends.