Senate

The Senate consists of past presidents who have agreed to serve in an honourary manner as advisors to the organization. The immediate past president also serves as Convenor of the Senate, acting as the liaison between the Senate and the current Board of Directors.

Senators contribute a broad range of knowledge and experience to WDO’s ongoing development.

View complete list of past presidents.

DavidKusuma

David Kusuma

Convenor of the Senate
2022-2023 President
USA

Dr. David Kusuma is the former Senior Vice President of Product Management & Innovation at Oregon Tool. Prior to this, David served as the Vice President of Research & Innovation and Vice President of Product Development Worldwide at Tupperware Brands Corporation. During his tenure, he was tasked with subverting conventional boundaries of innovation by developing new technologies and materials to create game-changing product solutions. As a result, they developed 150 to 200 new products every year, and launched them in over 100 countries around the world. David has also worked at General Electric (GE) as Global Manager, Design and Vehicle Engineering, to develop the use of polycarbonate as a viable alternative to glass in automotive window systems. Prior to GE, David worked at Bayer Material Science. David holds a PhD from Cranfield University (United Kingdom), an MBA from Tilburg University (The Netherlands), a MS in Engineering Management from Purdue University, a BS in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, and a BS in Industrial Design from Carnegie-Mellon University.

srini

Srini Srinivasan

2019-2021 President
USA

Srini is a highly accomplished designer & entrepreneur in creative design and technology development, with over 25 years of work experience in the Silicon Valley, United States and India.

He has been a Keynote Speaker on several Design Conferences across the globe on Innovation & Design topics. He has been a Member of the Jury on several well-known Design Awards across the globe.

Srini is an active member of IDSA, the professional body for Industrial Designers in the US. He also had been a Jury of Core77 Product design (2016); India Design Mark, (2018); Innovations Judge at Consumer Electronics Show (CES) for four years (2016-2018, 2012); and IEEE Panel “Design for Usability” in Jan 2013 at Las Vegas. He is currently one of the judges for “Eureka Park Climate Change Award” for 2019.

Prior to starting LUMIUM, Srini worked at Tata Elxsi, CoSystems, Tektronix, & Sarnoff Corporation in senior management roles.

Srini lives in San Jose, California and travels extensively around the globe. He is also an avid singer, golfer and an occasional pilot.

Luisa Bocchietto

2017-2019 President
Italy

Luisa works as a designer and architect in both the public and private sector, carrying out projects aimed at local development, urban reclamation, and renovation. Her projects and products are published on various specialized magazines. She has contributed texts on architecture and design for various publications, has organized exhibitions (Pop Design, D come Design) as well as attended conferences and served on international juries. Luisa also cooperates as visiting professor with universities and design schools.

As a past president, Luisa serves on the governing council of the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (ADI). She is also a past president of the Association of Architects in Biella and was a member of the organizing committee for World Design Capital 2008 Torino.

Mugendi M’Rithaa

2015-2017 President
Kenya

Prof. Mugendi K. M’Rithaa is a transdisciplinary industrial designer, consultant, educator and researcher based in Nairobi, Kenya. He studied in Kenya, the USA, India and South Africa and holds postgraduate qualifications in Industrial Design and Higher Education, as well as a doctorate in Universal Design. He is widely traveled and has taught in Kenya, Botswana, South Africa and Sweden and is passionate about various expressions of socially conscious (and responsible) design, including: Design Thinking/Human-Centred Design; Designerly Strategies for Mitigating Climate Change; Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability; Distributed Renewable Energy; Indigenous Knowledge Systems; Sustainable Development; Participatory Design; and Universal Design.

Mugendi has a special interest in the pivotal role of design thinking in advancing the developmental agenda primarily on the African continent. He is associated with a number of international networks focusing on design within industrially developing (or majority world) contexts. Mugendi is also Africa’s first President of the World Design Organization™. Much of his work focuses on the importance of WDO in supporting the aspirations of designers worldwide.

Brandon Gien

2013-2015 President
Australia

Dr. Brandon Gien is the CEO of Good Design Australia, an international design promotion organization that conducts Australia’s Good Design Awards program. Dr. Gien is an Adjunct Professor of Industrial Design and holds a PhD in Environmental Design at the University of Canberra. He was formerly General Manager of Design Strategy and Head of Corporate Services at Standards Australia, recognized by the Government as Australia’s peak standards body. In 2011, he was made a Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia for his contribution to the design profession in Australia.

Soon-In Lee

2011-2013 President
South Korea

From 1975, Soon-in Lee worked as a designer for Gold Star (later to become LG). In 1990, he became president of the LG Europe Design Center in Dublin, and in 1995 became director of the LG Electronics Corporate Design Center in Seoul. During the same year, he became Executive Managing Director of the Korea Institute of Design Promotion (KIDP). He was also Executive Managing Director of the Seoul Design Center from 2013-2015. A former Dean of the International Design School for Advanced Studies at Hong-ik University in Seoul, Mr. Lee is currently a Professor there.

Mark Breitenberg

2009-2011 President
USA

Dr. Mark Breitenberg is currently Director of Business Development at Interactivism. From 2012 to 2015, he was Special Assistant to the President at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena (California). From 2009 to 2012, he was the Provost at California College of the Arts in San Francisco and Oakland. Dr. Breitenberg also served as Chair of the jury for the 2010 National Design Awards at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, and was appointed to the San Francisco Arts Commission, Civic Design in 2010. As Dean at Art Center College of Design (2003-2009), he created various new research programs and curricula, including one based on the transdisciplinary complement of liberal arts and sciences to studio practice.

Carlos Hinrichsen

2007-2009 President
Chile

Professor Carlos Hinrichsen graduated as an industrial designer in Chile in 1982 and earned his master’s degree in Engineering in Japan in 1991. Currently, he is Dean of Faculty of Digital Design and Creative Industries at the Universidad San Sebastian, based in Santiago, Chile. At present, Chile is in transition from an efficiency-based towards an innovation-based economy. In order to achieve this important national goal, the university contributes with initiatives combining applied research, innovation, business, design, digital transformation, technology and engineering.

From 2007 to 2009, Carlos Hinrichsen was President of the World Design Organization (formerly Icsid), and currently serves as a Senator of the organization. In 2010, he was honoured with the distinction “Commander of the Order of the Lion of Finland”. From 2014 to 2016, he was Dean of the Faculty of Business, Engineering and Digital Arts at the Gabriela Mistral University in Santiago and from 2016 to 2017, he was the Senior Managing Coordinator of Engineering Design in the School of Engineering in the P. Universidad Católica de Chile. For more than three decades he has led interdisciplinary teams to enable corporations, educational and other institutions to gain leadership and competitive positioning.

Peter Zec

2005-2007 President
Germany

Peter Zec (*1956) is an internationally acclaimed design expert and author, best known for initiating and leading the Red Dot Design Award. Since 1991, he has been president of the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen, which organizes the award. He was president of both the Federation of German Graphic Designers (BDG) and the Association of German Industrial Designers (VDID). From 2006–2007, he was chairman of the International Design Alliance. In 2016, he received the honorary citizenship of the City of Seoul for his commitment to the South Korean capital.

Luigi Ferrara

Luigi Ferrara

2003-2005 President
Canada

Luigi Ferrara is an architect, designer, urbanist and strategist and has been the Dean of the Centre for Arts, Design and Information Technology at George Brown College since 2002. Under his guidance, the Centre was ranked one of the top 60 design schools in North America, according to Business Week magazine, and its Institute Without Boundaries was ranked as one of the top 4 Urban Design programs in the world by Azure magazine. He holds a Bachelor in Architecture from the University of Toronto, and is a registered architect with seal. He has over 30 years of experience in private and public sector urban development and innovation and lends his expertise to almost a dozen boards and associations.

deanerichardson

Deane W. Richardson

1992-1993 President
USA