Equipment

Sohrab Vossoughi is the founder, president and chief creative director at Ziba. During his 29-year tenure, he has received numerous accolades that include being named one of the five innovation gurus in the U.S. by Business Week magazine, being elected as a “Global Leader of Tomorrow” by the World Economic Forum and serving as an elected advisor to the Hong Kong Productivity Council since 1998. He currently holds more than 40 patents. Sohrab speaks internationally and regularly contributes to Fast Company, Harvard Business Journal and Rotman’s business journal.

Kiersten Muenchinger is an associate professor and the founding director of the Product Design Program at the University of Oregon. She was the Industrial Designers Society of America's (IDSA) Young Educator of the Year in 2011. Kiersten develops curricula that enable students to bring their design work to international exhibitions, initial stage funding and retail sales. Her research and creative practice focus on unusual materials use with an emphasis on sustainability and metrics. With the Green Product Design Network at UO, Kiersten develops more sustainable products from molecule to marketing. Her original product work was featured in the Salão Design exhibition in Brazil this past summer. Before joining UO, Kiersten held design engineer positions with IDEO, Fitch, Sottsass Associatti, Walt Disney Imagineering and the Long Now Foundation.

Jamian spends every day immersed in the challenges of designing digital equipment for athletes in his role as Director of Design for Nike Digital Sport Hardware. Previous to Nike, he directed Industrial Design teams for Kodak and Ziba, developing breakthrough products and strategies for brands such as KitchenAid, Logitech, Sirius Satellite Radio, P&G and Panasonic. Jamian started his career at Electrolux and is a graduate of the University of Northumbria.

Stevan Wittenbrock is the founder and President of SoMA, Inc., a strategic product development consultancy in Portland, Oregon. Wittenbrock is a skilled craftsman and visionary leader with an impressive history of developing market-altering products and brand strategies. He has directed full-cycle product development programs for both start-ups and Fortune 50 companies in more than 40 industries. His clients have included Intel, Nike, Carl Zeiss, Herman Miller, IBM, Nvidia, LightSPEED Aviation, Fluke and many others. He holds numerous design and utility patents and has earned international acclaim for his innovative work. Steve studied architecture and anthropology at the University of Washington and received his BFA and MFA degrees from the California Institute of the Arts.