Adriano Galvao

(M.Des. 2002, Ph.D. 2006)
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Adriano Galvao has ten years of experience in the development of new products and in prospection of new business opportunities. As the vice-president of Sylver Consulting (founded by his wife, Brianna Sylver, MDes '03), Adriano’s current roles are to plan, coordinate and execute consumer research projects, contributing to the innovation process of organizations such as BestBuy, Marriott International, Paslode, Bosch Power Tools, and others in the US and Brazil. Adriano's research in the medical field received two international awards, the 2004 IDEA Silver Award and the 2005 BraunPrize. The product Blood Valve (or Easy-XM) was exhibited in Germany, Italy, Portugal and U.S.A. His book, Design Relationships, based on his doctoral dissertation, was published in August 2007 by VDM Verlag Dr. Mueller press. It describes what Tom MacTavish, Vice President of Human Interaction Research at Motorola Labs, calls "a well grounded methodology for making and managing design decisions."

Kathleen Brandenburg

(M.Des. 1998)
| http://www.iacollaborative.com
Kathleen is co-founder of IA Collaborative, a Chicago consultancy specializing in branding, strategic research, product planning, graphic and interface design. Fast Company magazine called her "one of the country's premier practitioners of immersive design" in their 2004 Masters of Design issue. Notable IA clients include ABC, Brunswick, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, ESPN, 3com, and Nike, who IA helped rethink a new watch line and triple its sales.

Denis Weil

(M.Des. 2001)
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Denis Weil, Vice President, Innovation and Concept Development, for the McDonald's Corporation, likes to push the boundaries of linking design with business. Denis is a guest lecturer at the Institute of Design on the topics of Business Prototyping and Service Design. Prior to joining McDonald’s in 2001, Denis spent 12 years in Product Development and Brand Management in Packaged goods and E-commerce businesses. Denis was a featured speaker at the 2007 Institute of Design Strategy Conference.

Brandon Schauer

(M.Des. 2005)
| http://www.brandonschauer.com
Prior to studying at IIT, Brandon was an Information Architect at Sapient managing and consulting on user experience development projects for groups like Morgan Stanley. He is now a Design Strategist for Adaptive Path in San Francisco, where he speaks on, writes about, and practices design as a means to create value. He has a decade of experience developing new user experiences on the Web, desktops, and products.