Keynote Speakers
Jen Scully | Target
Director of Strategy and Operations
Jen Scully is the Senior Director of Strategy and Operations for Target’s in-house creative agency. She leads creative strategy, account management, project management, resource management and planning capabilities for the studio. She is passionate about strategy development, cultural and operational improvement, and empowering teams to achieve their best.
During her 18 years at Target, Jen has worked as an engineer, market researcher, merchandising strategist and digital leader before joining the creative team. She uses her unique career experiences to help others develop in their careers. As an executive coach and personal brand trainer, Jen loves coaching individuals to achieve personal goals and drive exceptional outcomes.
Mig Reyes | Sprout Social
Director of Product Design
Mig Reyes (@migreyes) is a Director of Product Design at Sprout Social in Chicago, IL. At Sprout, he looks after a team researching, designing, and building social media publishing and analytics products.
He’s proudly been an in-house designer for the past decade. He learned to design a brand and build communities at internet t-shirt giant, Threadless. He then moved into designing for software as a brand and product designer at Basecamp. He ultimately wound up in his first formative leadership role serving as the head of the digital product design team at Trunk Club, a fashion retailer by Nordstrom.
Outside of the day jobs, Mig brought together communities by serving as a President for AIGA Chicago, teaching, and starting the Chicago chapter of CreativeMornings.
He enjoys photography and writing, You can find him on Instagram and Twitter as @migreyes.
Michael Ciancio | Chobani
Managing Creative Director
Michael is an experienced Creative Director and Designer. As Managing Creative Director at Chobani, he leads Chobani's content development across a variety of platforms, while overseeing the design of the team—including career development, coaching and resourcing.
Prior to joining Chobani, he grew and led the Design team at Refinery29 and served as Creative Director across editorial, branded content, experiential, digital and brand innovation. At Wolff Olins, he has shaped brand strategies, and designed visual identity systems and marketing campaigns, touching some of their most iconic work - Microsoft, 3M, Target, AOL and Citi.
Michael was a grant-holder at Fabrica, the Benetton communications research center in Treviso, Italy, where he worked collaboratively on a variety of retail, editorial and product design projects with an international team of diverse talents. Across his career, Michael’s work has been recognized by AdAge, FastCompany, Design Observer, The Walrus, and Time Out London.
Local Panel Speakers
Andy Rich | AIGA National
Presidents Council Chair
Robin Tooms
Member’s Choice Credit Union
Chief Marketing Officer
Elisa Cisneros
hOUSTON Methodist
Creative Services Manager
Breakout Sessions Leaders
Sahar Paz | Own Your Voice Strategy Firm
Sahar Paz didn't grow up playing house, she played office. At the age of 13, she launched a baby and pet sitting company generating more cash flow than all the lemonade stands in the neighborhood! A natural leader with an active left-and-right brain, Sahar was 25 years old in New York City with a lucrative career in Finance and bored out of her mind. Inspired to share what she learned in business, she pivoted and dedicated herself to feeding the entrepreneurial voice of teenagers by founding Free Your Star Foundation. The nonprofit partnered with low-income high schools in Brooklyn with credit-earning programs written by Sahar herself. Championing the voice of others to help them understand their emotional intelligence and their personal drivers has always been Sahar’s mission. Her book, Find Your Voice part-memoir, part cognitive behaviour guide, epitomizes that pursuit. Published in 2014, her message gained attention within forward-thinking organizations such as HBO, Facebook, Whole Foods, and the Texas Medical Center, where Sahar was invited to deliver keynote presentations. After five years on the road, Sahar became the CEO of Own Your Voice Strategy Firm, a personal branding agency that focuses on placing professionals on stages to speak. Today, she resides in Houston and has given up pet sitting to play with her dog Rico instead. You can find Sahar on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @SaharPaz.
Jimmy Luu & Tuan Phan | St. Edwards University
Jimmy Luu is a design educator based out of Austin, Texas where he teaches graphic design in the Department of Visual Studies at St. Edward’s University. He runs an intermittent design practice, Independent Project Lab, that focuses on publishing across mediums and formats in traditional and experimental ways. He serves as the Director of Education of AIGA Austin.
Tuan Phan is a graphic design freelancing dabbler, off-time semi-socio-political graphical activist, & a full-time graphic design teacher. El Paso, Tx. Omaha, Ne. Pasadena, Tx. Kingwood, Tx. Seabrook, Tx, Houston, Tx, Valencia, Ca. Austin, Tx.
Arun Chintalapati & Brandon Robinson | PROS
Arun Chintalapati & Brandon Robinson are UX Designers at PROS, where they collaborate with talented teams to create impactful pricing software solutions that meet business and user needs.