MEET THE HOSTS

We are thrilled to be able to bring together such an experienced and diverse group of leaders. We encourage you to take the time to review and connect with your fellow attendees and peers prior to the conference. Have a specific challenge or idea? Suggestions and feedback are welcome and will help facilitate a speedy and fluid start to the conference.
Suggestion Box

DAVID BUTLER

  • David's superpower is in helping companies use design to strategically drive growth. 

    David leads strategy at SoWhat (so-what.io), a brand design agency he co-founded in 2022. SoWhat helps early-stage startups like Early Majority, and established global brands like Duracell and The United Way create iconic brand identity systems. 

    In 2017, David joined Kids2 as Chief Growth Officer, responsible for strategy, product design, and brand marketing. He led the transformation of Baby Einstein from a product brand to a global media brand and year-over-year double digit revenue growth. 

    In 2004, David joined Coca-Cola as the company's first VP of Global Design. He was part of a turnaround team that helped double the value of the company in less than a decade. Through his leadership, Coca-Cola won the Cannes Film Festival's first Grand Prix of Design, reinvented it's global Fountain Business through Coca-Cola Freestyle and saved over $100M annually through a Canva-like app called Design Machine. He also led the Company's first venture fund generating a portfolio of startups around the world including 3 unicorns. 

    Prior to Coke, David led brand strategy for Publicis Sapient helping some of the world’s most valuable brands become digital including UPS, IBM, Bank of America, Delta and Gucci. He began his career as a graphic designer specializing in large-scale branding systems including 3 Olympic Games. 

    Originally from a small beach-town in Florida, David has traveled across 6 continents and over 50 countries. He has been recognized by Fast Company as a Master of Design, one of America's 50 most influential designers and included in Fortune’s Executive Dream Team. David co-authored, Design to Grow: How Coca-Cola Learned to Combine Scale and Agility now translated in 25 languages. Daniel Pink called it a “master class in problem solving,” and Tim Brown said it caused him to "rethink IDEO."

JOHN GLEASON

  • John M. Gleason

    John enjoyed a rewarding career at Procter & Gamble that spanned more than 2 decades.  John’s global responsibilities in customer services, operations, international trade, strategic sourcing, and design & innovation – and touched all categories, most brands, and all regions at some point during his career.

    Notably, a member of P&G’s global Design Leadership Team, John was a part of P&G’s initial, formative journey to elevate and leverage Design more strategically in its businesses, and in its DNA and culture.  One of the largest and most transformative “Design journeys” on the planet.  In this role, John was responsible for all of P&G’s external design and innovation agency relationships – interfacing with almost 400 design, innovation, and creative agencies, and creating the processes and criteria used to identify, select, and on-board exceptional talent and capability, as well as to evaluate existing agency relationships. 

    John also led external benchmarking programs with Fortune 500 corporations who sought to better understand the strategic role of Design, and how it might be a catalyst for growth… and not just a “decoration station”. 

    Inspired by this “balcony view” of the industry - and a wide range of experiences, observations, insights, and patterns of behavior - John saw the opportunity to help both “sides” of the industry accelerate their respective Design, marketing, & creative services journeys… to better serve consumers, and drive better business performance.  To be better, together.

    In early 2007, John left P&G to launched A Better View Strategic Consulting, LLC to “enhance the intersection of creative relationships”. 

    John and A Better View have advised more than 120 leading, consumer-facing corporations, dozens of smaller/newer brands and start-ups, and has had the opportunity to coach more than 2,000 agencies - shaping their value propositions, elevating client engagement skills, and expanding the value they create for their clients.    

    John is passionate about the role, influence, and impact that Design might deliver for organizations and for greater business results… as a catalyst for growth… an advocate for consumers, customers, colleagues, and communities… influencers of culture and collaboration… a source of curiosity and action… and a champion of long-term and long-lasting brand propositions.

    John created the Design Leaders Council for the prestigious economic research and leadership organization, The Conference Board.  This peer-to-peer council launched in 2017 with “Head of Design” members from 47 well-known corporate enterprises, including:  Google, Procter & Gamble, Mastercard, Mayo Clinic, Salesforce, SAP, Expedia, BNSF Railways, Nike, Rockwell Collins, Pacific Gas & Electric, and many other equally renowned corporations. 

    John co-founded The D Event… a round-table event exclusively for client-side Design & business leaders.  He teaches a Design Thinking course in the MBA program at the University of Notre Dame.  And John was elected to the Board of Directors of the Design Business Association in the UK – the world’s leading authority on Design effectiveness.

    In short, John hopes that his experiences, perspective, influence, & impact provide… well… a better view. 

DYFED “FRED” RICHARDS

  • A world class design career spanning 30+ years in the “Fast Moving Consumer Goods” category for some of the world’s leading global brands.

    Fred has been privileged to have led three of the world’s largest design agencies across multiple consumer categories. This valuable and unique experience ensures that Fred brings his unparalleled branding perspective to your business. A creative thinker who believes passionately in the “big idea” for the consumer to comprehend, for the brand to drive and for the business to believe in and profit from.

    First and foremost, Fred is a creative thinker. With a proven track record of defining key strategic design solutions for some of the world’s biggest brands. An ability to not only think big , but an ability to deliver on the details for the critical execution of the big idea.

    Design thinking and execution must serve a higher purpose beyond meaningless decoration and vanity, it is an integral part of the marketing and innovation mix for the benefit of the business. The language of design, semiotics and design principles play a key role in his methodologies to have the business understand the history of the category and brand and the future success in an ever-changing world.

    KEYNOTE SPEAKING
    Fred is an accomplished and sought-after industry keynote speaker. Highly entertaining and passionate, always delivers with great humor and insights on the pitfalls of branding to the principles of effective world class design thinking and application. Ideal subject matter for training or inspiring your marketing and design team.

    Fred has provided keynote speeches in annual conferences for P&G, MARS Wrigley’s, Akzo Nobel, Newell, Coca-Cola, Purina, GSK, Wilson, Centene, Nestle, Unilever, Mezzan, Philips, ConAgra, and Lowe’s. Fred is also a regular contributor to the design conference speaker circuit such as The HOW Conference, Packaging That Sells, BXP, International Cleaning Products Conference and FUSE.