David Hertz, FAIA, LEED AP

Having worked for both John Lautner and Frank Gehry as early mentors, David opened his own studio, Syndesis, in 1984 at the age of 23, pursuing both a traditional architectural practice as well as an alternative career within architecture, involving research and development of sustainable building materials, products and systems. David’s early work in concrete furniture and public sculpture and new product development, gained acclaim and many awards, including the P.A. Progressive Architecture Magazine’s Young Architects Award and the New York Architectural League Young Architects Forum prize. His work has been exhibited internationally, at the MOMA Museum of Modern Art N.Y, The National Building Museum and The Smithsonian Museum of American History, Washington, D.C., Royal Institute of British Architecture, RIBA Gallery, in London, the Harajuku Museum and GA Gallery in Tokyo, and the Venice Biennale Architecture Pavilion, Venice, Italy.

David’s practice has evolved and expanded over the last 20 years and includes; research and product development, and the invention of Syndecrete®, a pre-cast lightweight cement-based finishing material. This product was one of the early adopters of sustainable building materials, and became a well-known brand name product around the world for its innovative use of high volume fly ash and unique high recycled content aggregates. The product has been used in the first LEED platinum commercial building, and the first LEED residential building in the US. For the development of this product David’s work has been highly regarded, published and exhibited internationally and has won many National, State and Local awards including, the California Council AIA Craftsmanship Award, an LAAIA Certificate of Appreciation as well as the ID Annual Design Review Award and The inc. Magazine’s Design Leadership Award.

David’s work continues to explore innovative building systems while incorporating energy efficiency innovations. Unique buildings have included, the Tilt-Up-Slab house, an early pre-fab home made out of pre fabricated tilt-up concrete panels, Panel House a recent home made of prefabricated refrigeration panels, a 32 room dormitory made of SIPS panels, and even a series of buildings out of large pieces of a 747 airplane. These projects have won numerous awards including the CAIA Western Home Award, a 2006 Excellence in Design Award from Environmental Design and Construction Magazine and the USGBC. And the 2007 Lifecycle Building challenge sponsored by the AIA and EPA. David was also selected for the 2007 Design 100 by Metropolitan Design Magazine and the 2007 distinguished Alumnus Award from SCI-ARC.

David’s work is exemplary in that it has wide appeal having been published and exhibited internationally in both the academic and architectural press as well as popular press, which translates into over 200 periodicals, 35 books, 21 television programs and exhibited in more than 10 countries, 8 states and 28 cities. David’s own home is the only project in Dwell Magazine’s history to be featured on two covers. David Hertz has been an active participant in the profession and serving the community through teaching and community service, for over 25 years, participating in many organizations. He has served on numerous professional committees such as the L.A. Chapter of American Institute of Architects COTE Committee on the Environment, the Environmental Affairs Committee of the Construction Specifications Institute, the Environmental Committee of Concrete Organizations, and the California Energy Commission’s High Performance Wall Systems Collaborative. Appointed to The Task Force for the Environment for the City of Santa Monica and member of the LUPC Land use and Planning Commission, City Of Los Angeles. In 2004, he became a LEED Accredited Professional, administered by the U.S. Green Building Council where he is a founding member. David has been teaching at U.C.LA. since 1994 on Ecology and Architecture and has taught at Sci-Arc, Art Center, Otis Parsons and is on faculty for the Sustainable Building Advisors program.

Reto Eberle
CEO
dTank

Reto Eberle is founder and CEO of dTank, a leading manufacturer of tailor-made office furniture solutions.

Reto’s personal passion and commitment to furniture design inspired him to create the private F3 Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting innovation in furniture design. He hopes to ensure that furniture design remains an integral part of the design process in the tradition of Eames, Schindler and Wright, and he wants to inspire students to explore and have fun with furniture design through the F3 Foundation and its F3 Awards competition.

As a boy growing up in Switzerland, Reto always imagined that he would open his own business building things for other people. Coupled with invaluable knowledge and experience from his family’s furniture manufacturing company in Switzerland and his degree in Mechanic Engineering, Reto’s creative hunger brought him to Los Angeles to open up the U.S. branch of the Swiss company Sitag Inc., a premium office furniture. After cultivating the west coast branch of this family business into a multi-million dollar operation, he sold the company and began focusing on dTank Inc. Today, dTank is a leading manufacturer of tailor-made office furniture solutions.

Inspired by Swiss sensibilities and state of the art technology, dTank elegantly fuses form and function without putting a cap on creativity. In the tradition and rich history of Swiss engineering and design, all products are thoughtfully designed for the specific needs of architects, interior designers and end users. dTank maintains a long track record of successful nationwide installations and offers a complete range of services including concept design via 3D visualization, engineering, prototyping, and the most current manufacturing techniques.

Stanley Felderman
Partner,
Felderman Keatinge + Associates

Stanley Felderman is the pioneer of the “total design concept,” and has integrated planning, architecture, interior design and product design successfully on a diversity of award winning projects. Today, he and Felderman Keatinge + Associates, are applying these ideas on a global basis. Clients include Morris Yorn & Barnes, Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP, Pillsbury Winthrop LLP, Samsung Corporation, the Walt Disney Company, Mattel, Viacom, BMG Music Publishing, Universal Music Group, MTV Networks, and Reveille. Felderman and his firm have been honored by American Institute of Architects, IIDA, and RAS for Industrial Design. FKA’s designs have been exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum in New York and the Newport Harbor Art Museum, and featured in leading publications, including The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Interior Design Magazine, and Architectural Record.

Nancy Keatinge
Partner
Felderman Keatinge + Associates

As a Partner of FKA, Nancy Keatinge joined with Stanley Felderman in l982 to create the multi-disciplinary architectural design firm. Felderman Keatinge + Associates counts among its clients The Gersh Agency, , Morris Yorn & Barnes LLP, Drago Centro, Pacific Capital Group, Pillsbury Winthrop LLP, Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton, Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner, Samsung Corporation, The Walt Disney Company, MTV Networks, Universal Music Group, Viacom, Reveille and BMG Music Publishing. Keatinge and her team counsel clients that business is in a continuous state of evolution and change. Using strategic intelligence and innovative design, they guide and support their client partners through the revealing process of evaluation, definition, structuring and positioning. Felderman Keatinge + Associates work has been exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum in New York, and has been featured in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, Interior Design Magazine, and Architectural Record.

Alexander Purcell

Alexander Purcell graduated with an MA in Architecture from Cambridge University, UK and studied Product Design at Art Center College of Design. He spent his formative design career in architecture. Working at Richard Rogers and Manser Associates in London on projects including the Millennium Dome, the Great Eastern hotel and Sketch restaurant and bar.

From there he moved to Los Angeles, becoming an award winning Art Director for M&C Saatchi LA. Among his clients were: The J. Paul Getty Trust, Ketel One Vodka, Qantas, The U.S Department of Commerce, Tourism Australia, City National Bank, Beverly Hills Tourism and the San Diego Zoo.

In 2009 he launched APRRO an interdisciplinary design studio. Purcell’s vision is to produce innovative design that pushes the boundaries of aesthetics, technology and materials; and re-defines the relationship between designer and manufacturer. APRRO has received numerous international features and awards for its launch collection, which debuted at the ICFF in May ’09.

Mark Scheider

In grade school, I won numerous state and national science fairs even though my experiments were less than successful. Why? Because my presentations were flawless. What no one told me was that there are careers that rewarded creativity.

In college, I serendipitously fell into the advertising and design school. That was the first big break of my young career. Part luck and part fate. The second big break was landing a job at HBO right out of college. That steered me into entertainment advertising and would shape my professional life. At 22 years old, I was in New York City designing ads for the Michael Jacksons concert and Madonna’s Girlie Tour.

Next I followed my mentor, George Pierson, to Discovery Channel and TLC. I worked there just as the networks were expanding and blossoming. When I had enough of Shark Week, I moved back to NYC to work at Lifetime...then Showtime...and finally at Grey Entertainment on ABC.

Two years later, when the network gave the business to Chiat/Day, I followed the account to LA and worked at Chiat for over 6 years. I was an Art Director on ABC, Apple, Nissan, Infiniti and XM creating print, outdoor and commercials for these national brands.

And now to my current position at Comcast Entertainment Group, I am the VP & ECD of Print & Online Design. I have an amazing team that creates advertising and branding for E!, The Style Network, G4, Eonline, mystyle.com and G4TV.com.

I love what I do. Everyday is different. And every job is unique. No matter if we are designing something as small as a nail file for a Style Network event or a national billboard campaign for Ryan Seacrest on E!News, the creative process is exhilarating.

Bob Wheeler
President & CEO
Airstream, Inc.

Bob Wheeler, 43, is President and CEO of Airstream, Inc., which has produced the world’s pre-eminent travel trailers since 1931. Since its creation, the Airstream “silver bullet” trailer has occupied a unique place in the hearts and minds of Americans both young and old. In recent years Airstream has experienced a resurgence of public interest fueled by a company focus on updated product design, enhanced distribution, and a marketing campaign designed to answer the question “Do they still make those things”? In the period 2002-2006 the company more than doubled in size, and, after recent challenges brought on by the general economy, the market for Airstream products is returning to strength.

Bob has been President & CEO since August, 2005. Prior to his current role at the company, Bob spent 3 years as Airstream’s VP of Product Development and Engineering. In this capacity he crafted product and business strategy and drove product development programs to expand product offerings for both towable and motorized products.

Prior to his tenure with Airstream, Bob served with other Thor Industries companies as Director of Purchasing for Dutchmen, Inc, Director of Operations for Aero Coach, and also as Director of Product Development for Fleetwood, Inc.’s, American Coach Division. Bob began his working career at General Motors, where he served as a manufacturing engineer in the Saginaw Steering Gear (now American Axle & Mfg., Inc.) axle manufacturing facility in Buffalo, NY.

Bob has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY, and an MBA from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Bob lives in Sidney, OH, with his wife, Kelly, and their three young boys, Grant, Harvey, and Finn.