Speakers

James Sommerville | Founder, KnownUnknown and Former Vice President of Global Design, The Coca-Cola Company

James Sommerville is a seasoned professional in the creative space, having been co-founder of a design agency, ATTIK, VP of Global Design at Coca-Cola and today the founder of the online creative community KnownUnknown. Through his community, he has helped companies such as Ford, Google, HP and General Mills to go through successful brand refreshes while connecting them to some of the highest creative talent in the world. Determined to build a creative entity that is poised to serve in a modern world of marketing, Sommerville believes that the next few years of Web 3.0 will be just like 1997 when the world adjusted to the blossoming of the internet and once again we have the freedom to push artistic boundaries.

If you are interested in learning more about James and his mission to reinvent the creative agency, you can follow his Instagram. You can learn more about his online community KnownUnknown by following their Instagram and Discord.

Andrew Edge | Senior Industrial Designer, Steelcase

Uninspired by his potential future in engineering, he changed his career path by pursuing a Master of Industrial Design from Auburn University. After graduating, Andrew worked for Delve, a design and innovation consultancy, developing timely products for brands like Purell, TIKI, and Abbott Laboratories. Currently he is a Senior Industrial Designer for the Hybrid Collaboration group at Steelcase, working with partners like Microsoft and Logitech to help define new products and experiences to better face the challenges of a more distributed world of work. He believes in the power of saying “yes” to new opportunities and challenges, which has led him to partnerships with companies like Autodesk, Domestika, and Herman Miller.

Jonathan Tate | Principal, OJT

Jonathan Tate is principal of OJT (Office of Jonathan Tate), an architecture and urban design practice in New Orleans. The office engages in numerous design- related activities, including applied research, opportunistic planning, strategic development, and conventional architectural practice. Their work has received numerous awards, including National AIA Housing Awards and the National AIA Honor Award in Architecture. The office has been recognized as a 2017 Emerging Voices by the Architectural League of New York, a Next Progressive by Architect Magazine and a 2018 finalist for the international Architecture Review Emerging Architect Award. Tate is the recipient of the 2020 Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Tate is a graduate of Auburn University, where he was a participant at the Rural Studio, and Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He has taught at Tulane University, the Cooper Union and was most recently the Favrot Visiting Professor at Tulane University.