Richel Tong
Creative Director and Design Manager at Unity Technologies
Richel leads a team of designers with a focus on crafting pragmatic, but sometimes-crazy experiences, leveraging real-time 3D technology in the automotive and transportation industries. Over the past 10+ years, he has had the privilege to work with notable companies such as Microsoft, LEGO, Walmart, Nissan, Electronic Arts, and TELUS, among many others to not only dream, but to also execute big ideas. Richel believes that design has a larger role to play in the world than just making interfaces and apps look good – it’s about truly understanding the context and needs of a user, and then identifying opportunities to enrich the human experience.
Vincent Dansereau
Head of Design, Technology + Innovation Lab at Enbridge
Vincent is an Agile leader and Design Thinking expert. He works to change mindsets, behaviours, and outcomes, emphasizing the importance of considering user value for successful product adoption. His solid 20+ years of product development experience is evident in his ability to transform insights into revenue.
Driven by the goal of enhancing product experiences in terms of usability, enjoyment, and profitability, he leads product strategy by applying design thinking, thereby transforming organizations. He recognizes the significance of balancing user and business value and possesses the expertise to scale design teams with diverse research, design, quality assurance, and writing skills.
Sydney Johnson
Design Lead for J5 Design and The Social Impact Lab
Authenticity, purpose, and equality reside at the heart of her design practice and always come through in the projects she is working on. When working with Sydney, you will find that the process is just as important and impactful as the result. With experience primarily in healthcare, energy, and social innovation, she relishes working in complex systems.
Beyond her role at J5, she is a passionate champion of service design and gives her time to educate others of its value. She spearheads Service Design YYC, a community group, which her co-founder Tim.
Tim Chen
Digital Lead at J5 Design
Tim is bridging the practices between the two worlds of Service Design and User Experience Design to further the team’s ability to deliver digital outcomes. With 10+ years of multidisciplinary design experience ranging from industrial design to product design, he has aided in standing up multiple products. He has also conducted user research to drive business innovation and defined digital strategies in various industries such as neo-banking, healthcare, transport, education, and public sector innovation.
Along with Sydney, Tim co-founded the Calgary group, Service Design YYC, which is a local community of designers built to further the practice both within the city and globally.
Vinita Israni
User Experience Manager, Qantas Airways
Vinita is the User Experience Manager at Qantas Airways, translating user research insights and strategy to interfaces, services, and systems. She drives digital data-driven and human-centered solutions for pilots, targeting EFB applications. She is also a founding partner of the EFB UX Consortium, a global community of design and design-adjacent professionals coming together to explore the transformation of technology as it intersects with design and evolving aviation products, programs and processes.
Vinita has worked as a product design lead and innovation strategist in a variety of domain spaces, such as urban mobility, aviation, and voice design, for companies including Ford Motor Company and Amazon in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a background in interaction design, studio art, and psychology, her current interests lie between the intersections of data literacy, change management, and sustainability.
