The Leadership Summit
on the Business of Design:
The Future of Talent, Organizations, & Leadership

Kate Shaw has dedicated her career to developing talent within organizations that thrive on creative disruption. Beginning her journey at Lucasfilm, Kate oversaw the technical and artistic development of artists and engineers in film and animation, and hosted a forum featuring interviews with some of the industry's biggest names.

Kate then joined Apple, where she revolutionized the company's executive coaching practices, transforming them into strategic, culturally-aligned interventions for leaders in critical roles. At Airbnb, she was an influential member of the company's Employee Experience team - developing employees as the organization scaled from 1,500 to 6,000 employees, navigated the harrowing challenges of the pandemic, and ultimately came roaring back with one of history's most successful IPO.

With over 25 years of experience in helping the world's most innovative companies design cultures that unlock human potential, Kate has now established her own practice as an executive coach and talent consultant, dedicated to helping others achieve the same success.

Dave is the President & Chief Executive Officer of DesignIntelligence. The company is comprised of the Design Futures Council representing 250,000+ people in the North American Built Environment industry, DesignIntelligence Learning, DesignIntelligence Strategic Advisory, DesignIntelligence Foresight, and DesignIntelligence Media. DesignIntelligence operates in the North America, UK, EU, and APAC.

Dave is also the Founder and Managing Director of The Tricord Group, a boutique equity fund with partners in Atlanta, Boston, and Minneapolis. Tricord has served as a funding source and strategic organizational assimilation advisory for multiple clients globally over the past 25 years. His work has taken him to 74 countries.

Dave is a frequent university lecturer as well as corporate speaker across the Built Environment industry. His work involves frequent interaction with leadership teams and governance entities regarding leadership transition, business sustainability, and organizational resilience. Dave also serves as a strategic advisor to many of the largest and most successful Built Environment industry firms in the United States.

As DLR Group's Chief Human Resources Officer Molly sets the HR strategy to support and sustain a high performing culture. She serves as an advisor to the firm's Managing Principals and Executive Team and ensures all HR practices are directly connected to and driving the firm's vision and business goals.

Nikhil Kalghatgi is the Chief Financial Officer at KPFF Inc., a 1400-person engineering consulting company focused on the Built Environment. He has extensive experience in a wide range of leadership and management positions that span across the engineering, real estate & business consulting industries. His 25 year long career includes leading transformational programs encompassing technology implementation, business process optimization and organizational change. In his role as a CFO at KPFF, he is responsible for all the corporate financial and business activities, including oversight and management of their General & Administrative group in Seattle Nikhil has an undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from National Institute of Technology, India, a graduate degree in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M and an MBA from UCLA. Nikhil lives in Irvine, CA with his wife and son and is an avid fan of the outdoors, road biking and long-distance running.

Alan is the Chief People Officer at HMC Architects. In his twenty-year HR career, Alan has cultivated a deep experience building high performance teams and creating genuine organizational cultures that have strong employee engagement. He is passionate about using people analytics and leadership development to increase retention and the employee experience. Alan has spent a career studying and deploying best practices in attracting, developing, rewarding, and retaining top talent.

Adrian Parr, PhD, is an internationally recognized environmental, political, and cultural thinker and activist, author, and filmmaker. The new dean of the College of Design at the University of Oregon, she is also a Senior Fellow at the Design Futures Council. Prior to joining the UO, she served as the dean of the College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Arlington, and as the director of the Taft Research Center at the University of Cincinnati. Adrian is a transdisciplinary scholar working at the intersection of architecture criticism, aesthetics, political theory, and environmental studies. She’s authored eight books, the latest three of which focused on environmental politics and sustainability culture, and she is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) chair on Water and Human Settlements.

Wendy Rogers is CEO and Chief Talent Officer of LPA Design Studios, an integrated design firm dedicated to creating projects that innovate, inspire and improve people’s lives. Wendy leads a team of more than 400 architects, engineers, landscape architects and interior designers in California and Texas. The firm embraces an inclusive and collaborative approach to create sustainable, timeless and resilient designs for corporate, educational, healthcare, recreation and municipal projects. LPA was recently honored as AIA California’s 2021 Firm of the Year.