Joe Baer is the Co-Founder, Creative Director, and CEO of ZenGenius, Inc., a global visual merchandising and event design agency going into its 25th year. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Joe brings over three decades of mastery in innovative leadership and creative direction to the visual merchandising and special events industries. He has extensive knowledge of the customer journey and is a seasoned public speaker who has traveled around the world to inspire and educate others through the art of visual merchandising. Additionally, Joe has contributed his retail know-how to multiple publications, authored The Art of Visual Merchandising: Short North, and created the Iron Merchant Challenge, a popular interactive retail design competition held annually at the International Retail Design Conference.

Joe’s passion for the world of retail is evident in his role as Vice President of the PAVE Global leadership board, his adjunct roles at Columbus College of Art and Design, and through offering internship opportunities for students at the ZenGenius home office.

Shanoo has a rich experience in design and design management, leading a Mumbai based design collective Eumo alongside co-founder Gary Grewal. She has helped shape the design narrative in India through participation as Chairperson, National Design Committee of ASSOCHAM and President of the Mumbai Chapter of the Association of Designers of India. She has also been part of eminent national and international design award juries and a speaker at design events.
Shanoo has an unerring ability to provide strategic design thinking, directing projects rare in scale and design opportunity. She has steered benchmark strategic and design projects winning prestigious awards such as the Rebrand 100, Designomics, Wolda, Best Brand and the CMO retail award on behalf of her Clients. Constantly questioning convention, she believes that design should escape the conformist confines of the craft and find expression across all dimensions. Her design company celebrates versatility and offers clients prolific expertise under one roof. She champions the conscious and thoughtful use of cultural metaphors in her work.

Matthew is the owner and founder of Echochamber; a London based creative retail intelligence agency, which travels the world tracking retail innovation and evolving consumer trends.
Matthew has run Echochamber since 1999, developing it over the past 22 years into a specialist trend consultancy with a global client base of retailers, developers and FMCG brands.
A regular keynote speaker at global retail conferences, in the days BC (Before Corona) Matthew could be found pounding the shopping streets of the world with his camera in hand!
Echochamber provides global best practice and creative insight to clients across all retail sectors, in order to help them benchmark best practice and improve their businesses, by harnessing evolving global consumer and retail trends.
Echochamber also offers Retail Safaris to the world’s best shopping cities, which are designed to energise and inspire client businesses with new possibilities. Matthew is looking forward to traveling again once restrictions lift!
Echochamber has worked closely with Marks & Spencer, Wetfield and Tesco for more than a decade, helping develop new concepts and keeping them informed of the latest retail innovations.
Other clients include global brands, such as Nike and IKEA, FMCGs such as Unilever and Johnson & Johnson, as well as leading global shopping mall developers and airport operators.
echochamber.com is an online magazine of global retail innovation which frist went live in 1999, back in the early days of the internet.

As Managing Director, Keith leads the Executive Board and manages strategic and in-house initiatives to develop the business. He manages client service, business development and contract negotiations for key client accounts, oversees the development of D&P’s teams and skills, and the Finance, Commercial and I.T Departments ensuring statutory and legal compliance across the company. Keith is actively involved in developing new business and growing D&P’s presence in new territories.

Jennifer is a 25-year-veteran journalist and content strategist who has researched, spoken about and written extensively on the strategy, experiential design and marketing of retail and consumer brands. Born in New York City, she has enjoyed time living abroad, in Mexico City and Caracas, Venezuela, and is currently based in Chicago. The opportunity to immerse herself in global culture from a young age contributed to her love of travel, design, art and architecture, and photography.

Internationally renowned Italian architect Giorgio Borruso is founder and principal of GIORGIO BORRUSO DESIGN, an award-winning multi-disciplinary design studio celebrated for its innovative architecture, interiors, and industrial design. The work of the Los Angeles-based studio has been featured in over 1500 publications, receiving over 225 international awards, including the 2019 American Architecture Award, 2018 Interior Design Best of Year Award, sixteen GOOD DESIGN Awards, and six RedDot Design Awards including Best of the Best 2012. Borruso’s work has been described as experiential, sculptural, streamlined, organic, constructed utilizing unusual combinations of materials and developing strong ties with the surrounding context, and his projects have been exhibited worldwide.

Borruso is a frequent lecturer at universities and conferences globally, speaking about innovation and experiential design. National Retail Federation’s special presentation, ‘Inside the Mind of Giorgio Borruso’, with an interview by Susan Szenasy, the editor-in-chief of Metropolis magazine, was presented at The Big Show 2010 conference in New York. Borruso is on the advisory board of Design:Retail magazine and has sat on the jury of numerous design competitions, such as GOOD DESIGN, AIA, IIDA, Architectural Record and Contract’s Interiors. Borruso has also been the subject of the television program Opening Soon: By Design and the featured guest on Designing Your Future.

Since 2002, Angela Kreutz is responsible for the strategic communication and branding. After graduating, the social scientist has worked in Mainz and San Francisco, and has carried out voluntary work as editor at the Frankfurt Societäts-Druckerei GmbH and TextilWirtschaft. Angela Kreutz was later a self-employed strategy consultant for fashion brands such as Opus or retail companies engelhorn, before she joined blocher partners. Since 2009, Angela has been managing partner at blocher partners.

Heading strategy and experience innovation at EchoX, the brand experience agency part of the industry leading sustainable creative production brand the Echo House Group. Creating innovative brand experiences with a focus on live events, experiential marketing, retail, hospitality and branding across pop-up, permanent and digital brand worlds for influential clients across the globe.
Creating human engagement - capturing imagination, turning visitors into customers, customers into advocates, making people fall in love with brands and making brands successful businesses. This has been Antony’s passion for the past 25+ years offline to online creating memory making emotional experiences with multiple awards his KPI.
Antony’s experience has taken award winning creative pedigree to the nuances of many global markets including Europe, Russia, China, Middle East, U.S. and India.
Key award winning clients include Selfridges, Nicole Farhi, Vodafone, Nokia, TATA Trent and Infosys.

Apolline leads the experience proposition in APAC and more recently Paris, she has extensive experience designing world-class retail and workplace projects globally. She is an expert in designing strategic and multidisciplinary projects working together with global brands. Apolline has designed innovative experiences for some of the world's most famous brands including Microsoft, Standard Chartered Bank, Sephora, Shiseido, Singapore Airlines. Her store design for Arcelik won the RDI international store design and was the World Retail Award finalist of ‘Outstanding Store Design of the Year’ in 2018, in 2022 she won gold for best brand experience for her work with Khaadi at Transform award and best office interior for her work with Microsoft at property award APAC. She is regularly invited to conference to give her point of view on the future of Experience and invited as a judge for awards.

Having worked with Landor & Fitch London, Southeast Asia, India and Paris since 2014,
she partners with the agency’s most senior clients to ensure that Landor & Fitch wide range of capabilities – brand positioning, brand experience, culture, service design, product design, environments – are equally grounded in creativity, strategy, and technologies as well as a deep understanding of the business to support growth of key accounts and new clients.

From these disciplines, she curates and strategises teams that collaborate on a variety of work, from brand retail environments to workplaces and everything in between, with a remarkable skill at investing , nurturing, and growing talent.

She is a one of the founding members of the diversity and inclusion programme in APAC which has since been adopted by other markets, and champions diversity and inclusion within the Landor & Fitch network, planning events, hosting and moderating panel discussions within the studios across the region.

Satish has more than two decades of experience and is known for his creative design approach, innovative problem solving and exceptional client service. He approaches difficult design challenges by giving emphasis to an idea and then following a step-by-step approach to discover simple technical solutions. He believes in sustainable architecture, and in blending both art and technology. He uses his strong communication and managerial skills to steer design teams and build consensus among clients, stakeholders and consultants.

With a B. Arch. degree from NIT Bhopal, and an MBA from Fore School of Management, Satish has immense experience in the field of architecture, interior and retail—designing corporate offices, high-end residences, hotels, department stores, food & beverage outlets, airport retail facilities, etc. Before starting Studio AIRD, a Mumbai based design Studio, he has worked with Dutt Designs, Jones Lang Lassalle, ITC Hotels, Barista Coffee Co. Ltd. and Shoppers Stop Ltd.

Irene joined Caulder Moore in 1990 is now sole owner of the business. Caulder Moore has worked with many leading global brands such as Hackett, Aspinal, Pepe Jeans, Caviar house and Coca Cola.
Responsible for creating the blueprint for the global Jo Malone retail concept, and the highest shopping point on the world, the store for the Burj Khalifa in the iconic tower in Dubai.
The business is currently involved in a number of brands as they move from online/digital to bricks and mortar experiential retailing models.
Irene has a BA from the University of Edinburgh and an MBA from the Scottish Business School.

Sanjay draws upon more than 29 years of experience as an architect, consultant, designer and project manager. He has helped many clients, successfully define their goals and requirements for a range of complex projects including large scale mixed-use developments, and high-performance buildings in commercial, office, hospitality, residential, corporate interiors and other market sectors. In his capacity as Principal and Managing Director for Gensler Bangalore & Mumbai, Sanjay is a strong proponent for advancing Gensler’s presence in India. In addition to bolstering the company’s ability to deliver sophisticated design services to clients, he is also responsible for driving employee engagement and delivering business results. Before joining Gensler, Sanjay held multiple roles at AIG Global Real Estate in India from 2008 through 2012. Sanjay has held regional leadership positions for the project management team for Jones Lang LaSalle in India from 2004 through 2008. During this journey, Sanjay helped to set up best practices, project quality-assurance processes and talent management initiatives. He developed expertise in helping revitalise organisations as well as enabling them to enhance profitability and growth.

Rahul Mistri is the Principal Designer of the international award-winning design studio Open Atelier Mumbai, that strives for a bold, vehement and sophisticated design approach. With a decade of focused practice, Rahul Mistri’s definitive ideology has manifested into an exquisite portfolio of work that includes residential, commercial, hospitality and corporate projects. In addition to that, the studio addresses the clients’ requirements as an essential part of their methodology and grounds their design process in it. Their work addresses the intangible qualities of spaces and derives experiences via a future-forward approach. His key focus is the amalgamation of automation, materials and bespoke aesthetics in every space. Layering upon that with his signature style of “less is more”, his team designs inclusive spaces that are exquisite displays of explorations in form, themes, smart-technology, and a play of materials. The Open Atelier design service spans across India in major cities like Kolkata, Raipur, Lucknow, Chennai, Mumbai as well as international projects in Dubai, Florida, Egypt. 

With an artistic ambition of being a musician, Mistri chose to channelise his creativity through his passion for interior design while studying at Rachana Sansad School of Interior Design in Mumbai. Prior to establishing Open Atelier in 2013, he has been associated with a multinational design firm Office Blank based in New York and Mumbai which he co-founded with Jugal Mistri. Apart from design practice, Rahul contributes to the academic pedagogy as a visiting professor in Academy of Architecture and various other design institutions across the country. Mistri’s interest in material application, analysis and production drives the zest to explore materialities that are visibly observed in his design.

Open Atelier Mumbai’s journey dazzles with honourable accolades like the Grohe Bath and Design Awards by AD, VMRD Retail Design Award 2022, iGen Top 50 under 40 Architects and Designers - 2022, Smart Space Awards 2022, Silver selection at the International A’ Design Awards, ‘Creative Excellence Award in Architecture & Interior Design’ by Society Interiors, Ace Alpha Awards for Commercial Interiors, Platinum award for Healthcare interiors at FOAID, amongst others. Over the years, the firm’s exquisite work and seasoned sensibilities have been applauded in various national and international publications such as Elle Decor, Love That Design, Architectural Digest, GoodHomes, Architects & Interiors, India Today Home, Architects & Interiors India, Surfaces Reporter, Grohe, Architecture Plus Design, Objekt International, and many others. In addition to recognition mentioned above, Rahul Mistri’s work has established features in distinguished media houses like Biltrax Media, Home Journal, Design Dekko, Interiors and Decor, Design Detail, Surface Reporter, CW Interiors and many more. 

Furthermore, Rahul shared his design expertise at multiple platforms namely – the Ace Update Webinar for the Architecture & Design Series, at the Worldbex Seminar on Green Design, Indian Institute of Fashion Design Jury Panel, and at the Let’s Talk Design Session with A-Class Marble in June 2022. 

Devika Khosla is the Creative Director of award-winning design studio, The Works Interiors (TWI), that offers interior design experiences, ranging from bespoke furniture units and space design to spatial execution for over 25 years. With a strong belief that good design has the power to make a positive difference in peoples’ lives, TWI, under her leadership, has completed 500+ projects spread across India, ranging from large-scale residential, industrial and commercial interior projects to small-scale customised furniture pieces, each unique in its expression.

Seasoned and accomplished retail design & development professional with 20+ yrs. of exp. and an impressive track record of successfully conceptualizing and executing high-impact retail ventures for a myriad of renowned brands and institutions across the MENA Region & India. In his professional trajectory, Rajeev has assumed pivotal leadership roles within the realm of Retail Design & Projects, leaving his mark on esteemed organizations such as Shoppers Stop, Centrepoint - Dubai, Lifestyle, Levi's, and more.

Richard has worked in commercial design for the last 30 years working with some of the most creative agencies and brands around the world. 20 years ago he became one of the founding partners at The One Off, an interdisciplinary design agency whose mission is to inspire customers, creating profit. Through focussing on the customer experience Richard and his team have helped global brands elevate and grow. Richard has designed for many sectors including fast fashion, technology and leisure. He considers himself a creative problem solver.

David Kepron is the VP – Brand Experience and Design Strategy at the Montreal-based architecture, design and strategy firm aedifica. He brings together his background as an architect, artist, educator, author, podcast host and builder to the making of meaningful and empathically-focused, community centric customer connections at brand experience places around the globe.

David is a former VP - Global Design Strategies at Marriott International. While at Marriott, his focus was on the creation of compelling customer experiences within Marriott’s “Premium Distinctive” segment which included: Westin, Renaissance, Le Meridien, Autograph Collection, Tribute Portfolio, Design Hotels and Gaylord hotels.

In 2020 Kepron founded NXTLVL Experience Design, a strategy and design consultancy, where he combines his multidisciplinary approach to the creation of relevant brand engagements with his passion for social and cultural anthropology, neuroscience and emerging digital technologies.

As a frequently requested international speaker at corporate events and international conferences focusing on CX, digital transformation, retail, hospitality, emerging technology, David shares his expertise on subjects ranging from consumer behaviors and trends, brain science and buying behavior, store design and visual merchandising, hotel design and strategy as well as creativity and innovation. In his talks, David shares visionary ideas on how brand strategy, brain science and emerging technologies are changing guest expectations about relationships they want to have with brands and how companies can remain relevant in a digitally enabled marketplace.

He has held teaching positions at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.), the Department of Architecture & Interior Design of Drexel University in Philadelphia, the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (L.I.M.) in New York, the International Academy of Merchandising and Design in Montreal and he served as the Director of the Visual Merchandising Department at LaSalle International Fashion School (L.I.F.S.) in Singapore. In the fall of 2022, David will also be teaching a course called “Cognitive Science for Designers” in the Masters in Professional Studies in Retail Design at the Columbus College of Art and Design.

David currently brings his creativity and insight on brand experiences to an international audience as a member of VMSD magazine’s Editorial Advisory Board, as a Board Member of the Interactive Customer Experience Association (ICXA) and Sign Research Foundation’s (SRF) Program Committee as well as the advisory board of the Center For Retail Transformation at George Mason University.

In 2014 Kepron published his first book titled: “Retail (r)Evolution: Why Creating Right-Brain Stores Will Shape the Future of Shopping in a Digitally Driven World” and he is currently working on his second book to be published soon.

In September of 2020, he launched a new podcast called “NXTLVL Experience Design” which brings listeners daring and different dialogues about “DATA: Design, Architecture, Technology and the Arts.” His guests include thought leaders who are driven by a passion to create the ‘New Possible’ and promote new paradigms of experiences into the mainstream.

Carly Hagedon is the Editor-in-Chief of VMSD magazine and Co-Chair of the International Retail Design Conference (IRDC). She is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati, where she studied Journalism—Magazine Writing and American history. She also currently serves as a board member for the Greater Cincinnati Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).

Leigh Ann Tischler is an award-winning artist and designer who has been creating theatrical experiences for retailers and customers for over two decades. From Leading store design projects at Macy’s, to innovating a state of art electronic experience at Sony New York, to showcasing brands, fashion trends, and philanthropic initiatives at her current role at Bloomingdale’s as Director of Windows and Special Campaigns, Leigh Ann has redefined the art of customer engagement through the artistry of window design.

Diane Archibald has championed retail and brands her entire career. Starting in the industry as a Visual Specialist and Merchandiser, her lifelong passion for retail has never faltered. Now, a seasoned and accomplished Interior Designer and Retail Design Executive, Diane advocates for creativity, quality and innovation in retail environments and customer experiences.

As Vice President Store Planning, Design & Facilities Mgmt. for one of Canada’s leading and largest women’s specialty retailers, Diane has an intrinsic understanding how brands and the store environment must engage and emotionally connect with the consumer as markets and expectations rapidly evolve.

A multi-faceted and innovative leader with a proven track record, Diane excels at design strategy - taking projects from ideation to completion, realizing incredible change management and transformation in her areas of expertise. Diane is passionate about the retail industry, her areas of influence and expertise, as well as inspiring and mobilizing teams to obtain outstanding results.

With a focus on product-centric design, Balaji Natarajan specialises in Spatial design, Visual merchandising, Work space design,  Product packaging, and Brand Identity design thus nurturing his entrepreneurial spirits . As a dedicated supporter of Indian art and crafts, he has led creative teams in tackling the challenge of rejuvenating retail brand experiences for prominent names such as Weekender and Tanishq. Additionally, his innovative touch has played a pivotal role in shaping new and compelling experiences for brands like Zoya and Taneira.

Apoorva Shroff is the founder and principal designer for the boutique architecture, interior design and product design firm Lyth Design. Like a joint that binds and supports movement, the ideology at lyth is to link and bring the world together with design. The philosophy being that architecture, interiors, a product, art or just a simple graphic are limited only by the power of imagination. Founded in 2022 and spearheaded by Shroff, the design practice aims to translate inspirations, ideas and memories into efficient and practical spatial solutions that are breath-taking.

Since its inception, the practice’s repertoire of works has gained immense traction amongst a growing roster of noteworthy clients like Prestige, Supreme Builders, Jindal Poly Films, and Central Square Foundation, with upcoming projects including destination homes. In addition, Shroff’s work has been showcased across some of the most prominent design publications like Architectural Digest, Elle Decor, Livingetc., Architects and Interiors, and mainstream media like Hindustan Times and Times of India, to name a few. 

Along with Lyth Design, Shroff occasionally teaches at Balwant Sheth School of Architecture, bridging the gap between academia and practice and mentoring students to become professionals of tomorrow.