Gordon has been a strong advocate for user experience and participatory design in Vancouver for over 20 years during his tenure as VP and Partner at OpenRoad. He is a founder and organizer of VanUE and was MC for the Vancouver UX Awards in 2015. As jury chair, Gord will facilitate the judging panel as it evaluates submissions across award categories

Irene is the Director of Strategic Design and Business Transformation, leading the BC Provincial Government’s corporate Service Design Team. She has worked for the BC Public Service since 2006 in a variety of roles focused on strategic communication, stakeholder engagement, and transforming government's approach to service delivery.

Irene has an extensive background in partnership development and corporate operations, including technology development and implementation and cross sector engagement and issues management. In addition to her work in public service, she has volunteered for over 10 years in the non-profit sector working with local organizations in both staff and Board roles. Her passions include working with government agencies to solve problems relating to how they deliver services to people, working directly with citizens to understand their needs, and redesigning and implementing services based on those needs.

Irene has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Waterloo and a Master of Education from Framingham State College, MA, where she researched the impacts of home schooling on academic achievement and social development. She has also recently completed the Dialogue and Civic Engagement program at Simon Fraser University.

Anne Forkutza started her career in user experience and digital strategy at the age of 18. Over the years she has utilized her skills to help deliver award-winning campaigns for big brands such as Electronic Arts, Nike, the Canadian Tourism Commission, Loblaws, and Starbucks. She also has years of experience combining business strategy with innovative product design while in various leadership positions at iQmetrix, a leading retail solutions company.

Anne is currently the Experience Director at Cova, where she leads the creative vision and branding, all while collectively striving to elevate the dispensary experience and move the industry forward in a positive direction.

She holds a Degree in Computer Sciences from Simon Fraser University and is also a regular mentor at Vancouver Film School’s Digital Design program.

Russell Taylor is a Faculty Member in the School of Interactive Arts + Technology at Simon Fraser University, and previously has taught Design at Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design, Kwantlen University College, and the Technical University of British Columbia, and has been a full-time faculty member at SFU since 2002. He is the Director of two international SFU field schools, italiaDesign (2016.sfuitaliadesign.com) since 2003 and dutchDesign (2017.sfudutchdesign.ca), since 2011, and has been a leader in SIAT’s Internationalization efforts since 2002, founding two formal university exchanges with Malmo University, Sweden and the Politecnico di Milano, Italy. His teaching practice is focused in the domains of Experience Design, User Experience Design, Brand + Identity Design, Visual Design, and Spatial Design. He is also the founder and director of SIAT’s annual Design conference, “Touchpoint”, (www.sfu.ca/idc), since 2012. In 2013 he was awarded the first "SIAT Outstanding Faculty Award" on the occasion of SIAT's 10th Anniversary for his "passion for design, for contributions to the development of the school and its culture, engaging students and ongoing involvement within the SIAT alumni community", as well as SFU's highest honour for teaching, the prestigious SFU "Excellence in Teaching Award".

As Partner and Research Practice Lead at Niiu Digital, Sheila Mackenzie is driven by a sincere sense of curiosity for understanding the interaction between humans and technology. She empowers organizations to create impactful products with strategic research-driven insights for innovative, human-centered design.

Sheila has built expertise through 17 years of interaction design and user research for local and global organizations, including Vancity, HSBC, Nokia and Samsung and most recently as an entrepreneur building a thriving research and design consulting business at Niiu Digital.

Before UX was a common word, Todd had started his career in technical writing where he documented interfaces he saw as needlessly complex and overly technical. He gave up on trying to explain those interfaces, and sweet-talked his way into design and product management where he could help shape the digital products to fit how people naturally think, work, and feel. For the past six years he’s worked as a co-founding partner in Denim & Steel Interactive, a design and build studio committed to making digital experiences comfortable and productive for clients and their audiences. Inspired by thinkers like Ursula Franklin, Brenda Laurel, and Jaron Lanier, Todd approaches UX design as a craft that is, at its heart, about working responsibly and taking care of other people.

Adrian leads the Digital Communications team within the central Communications and Marketing office at the University of British Columbia. Getting his start as a technology coach, and moving through roles in design, development, information architecture, and analytics, Adrian has worn nearly every hat in the digital design and development process over the last 13 years and has gained extensive experience in helping cross-disciplinary digital teams identify, understand and implement industry best practices that can be applied within large, complex organizational environments.

With degrees in psychology and education along with being a Certified Scrum Master, he has a keen interest in the intersection where people, process, and technology meet.

Tiffany recently graduated from Simon Fraser University’s Interactive Arts and Technology program with a distinction in Design. You may also recognize her as last year’s winner in the UX by Students category and People’s Choice! In her position at Finger Food Studios, she has taken part as the lead designer for multiple projects, including a newly released program called “Sphero Arcade,” a Swift Playground book that has been featured at the 2017 WWDC Conference.

Before embarking on a career in UX, Tiffany spent a year teaching English as a Foreign Language to elementary school students in South Korea, and ended her time abroad by leading a lecture on creativity in the classroom at the Teach and Learn in Korea (TaLK) National Orientation. When not geeking out over playful, minimalist design, she can be found doting on her unappreciative cat, whom she may have an unhealthy obsession with.