Rob Vermeulen
Vermeulen / Total Identity, The Netherlands
Born in Holland in 1952, Rob studied art at the St. Joost academy in Breda, Holland. In 1976 he started his own design agency. In subsequent years the agency developed into a full-service design agency, with a portfolio that embraced disciplines such as photography and illustration.
From 1978 till 1981 he was the designer for the Dutch publishing house Corrie Zeelen. Between 1982 and 1990 he taught design at the art school in Sittard, Holland. In the meantime the agency specialized in brand design, and worked for numerous national and international clients.
In 2004 negotiations were started to join the Total Identity group in Amsterdam. Founded as Total Design, it was the leading independent design agency in Holland, with partners all over the world. In January 2005 Vermeulen/co design joined Total Identity as the brand specialist under the name VERMEULEN.
Nicola Mincione
RBA Design, Italy
Born in Milan on 23 August 1965, Nicola Mincione graduated with a diploma from the European Institute of Design and the University of Milan. He worked initially as a visualizer and illustrator for various publicity agencies.
In 1989 he started working as a graphic designer with Immagine Design, an agency specializing in design. From 1992 onwards, as Art Director at the studio Robilant & Associati, he completed various packaging design projects for leading multinationals in the food and wine/sparkling wine sectors.
In 1999 he became a partner at RBA, an agency specializing in brand identity and packaging design, assuming the role of creative director.
Alexandra Nagy
Paqart, Hungary
Alexandra Nagy graduated from the department of Industrial Design, Academy of Applied Arts, Budapest in 1971. Thereafter she worked as a freelance designer of medical instruments and in the machinery industry, followed by a two-year period with a graphic and landscape design company in Ireland.
In 1974 she returned to freelance work and began a long and successful collaboration with the Gedeon Richter Pharmaceutical Company, where she worked on cosmetic packaging design. She came up with prize-winning and market-leading designs for the "Fabulissimo" and "Fabulon" brands.
In 1991 she set up the Paquart Design Studio, Hungary's sole design studio specializing in packaging design, product design and artwork services.
A winner of numerous design awards, since 1983 Alexandra has lectured at a variety of educational institutions and professional organizations and has been widely published in professional journals.
Jean Jacques Schaffner
Schaffner & Conzelmann AG, Switzerland
Jean Jacques Schaffner, born in Switzerland in 1954, took a course in applied design in Basel. Following a period of training as a sculptor and studies at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, he studied graphic design.
In 1977 he set up his own design and photographic studio in Basel in partnership with Silvana Conzelmann and trained as a TV musical director and as a photographer. Thereafter he studied in Paris, London/Oxford, San Francisco and Utah.
As a contributor to various professional journals he has written extensively on design, interactive communication and packaging/graphic design. From 2000 to 2003 he was President of the Pan European Brand Design Association (PDA) and gave talks and lectures at numerous international conventions.
His company Schaffner & Conzelmann Designersfactory, based in Basel, is a full-service design agency specializing in packaging design, branding and corporate communications.
Reinhard Klank
BB&G+Klank, Germany
Born in Hamburg in 1946, Reinhard Klank served an apprenticeship in typesetting. He then worked as a compositor, proof reader and composing room manager before studying at the Academy of Advertising Sciences in Hamburg. He graduated as a qualified Advertising Assistant in 1970, and worked as Production Assistant at the agency Economia and then as Account Executive at the Verclas & BÖltz agency.
In 1974 he moved to Tchibo AG as Deputy Director of Advertising and Head of Sales Promotion, and enrolled as a member of the BDVT (Association of German Sales Trainers and Promoters). Between 1976 and 1979, he was Head of Tchibo's "Partnerservice" staff department - responsible for developing and implementing sales promotion measures for retail partners, before becoming Executive Director at Peter Schmidt Studios. In 1983 he became Managing Partner at Sokoll und Klank Design GmbH, which in 2003 became BB&G+Klank Design.
Jennifer Tsai
Proad Design, Taiwan
Winner of numerous awards and a judge for various other design competitions, Jennifer Tsai started practicing design in 1982. She established her own firm, Proad Design, in 1987. Initially using graphic design followed by corporate image design, Proad has successfully developed product identification for many Taiwan O.E.M and O.D.M manufacturers.
In 1997, Jennifer was invited to fill the Vice President position at the Royal Bali Bay, the renowned private health club. Over the next three years, she helped enhance and innovate their profile through market strategy, image design, and corporate identity.
Devoting her full energy to her own company in recent years, Jennifer has worked aggressively in creating and developing corporate identity design and brand creation. It is her hope and belief that Proad can become known as "the link" to inspire cross-culture communication, changing the insignia from "Made in Taiwan" to "Designed in Taiwan".
Fabrice Peltier
P'Référence, France
Fabrice Peltier began his professional career while still a student at Estienne School. As a matter of fact, it was while studying graphic arts and marketing communications that Fabrice Peltier also developed his client network. Then, in 1985, at 24 years old, he created his own company, P'Référence, which is today one of France's major design agencies.
Twenty years later, P'Référence is still an independent agency. As a majority shareholder and CEO of his company, Fabrice Peltier maintains this standing.
Throughout the years Fabrice Peltier has developed an unique "Brand Booster" style in his work. An innovative concept based on pragmatic analysis and a process of global design for innovation projects, P'Référence has now created and launched its own products to demonstrate its talent. As a recognized expert, Fabrice Peltier also regularly gives conferences and publishes articles in professional magazine.
Oleg Beriev
Mildberry, Russia
Oleg was born in 1967. In 1990 after graduation from university as mathematician, he decided to change his career radically and dedicated himself to marketing. His marketing career went from retail agent of a small export-import company to director of a full service advertising agency and vice president of marketing in one of the largest Russian holding companies. In 1999 Oleg decided to build a business of his own and he created the agency "Mildberry", the first Russian agency specialising in brand development and package design.
Comprehensive experience in sales and advertising helped Oleg to create a successful business concept and in two years Mildberry became the leading agency in brand design in Russia and CIS. Today Mildberry is an international branding and design consultancy with offices in Moscow, Brussels, London and Milan and with a client list of a few dozen international and local companies.
Flavio Kleijn
Coleman Schmidlin & Partners, Spain
Flavio is a Dutch National. He graduated in the UK in 1990 with a BA Honours degree in Communications.
Since then, he has accumulated sixteen years of experience working with multinational brand consultancies across various European markets. He has enjoyed roles with Futurebrand London, Futurebrand Milan, Landor London, Landor Paris (where he was Creative Director for Italy) and Landor Madrid (as Creative Director for Iberia).
Flavio is currently working with Coleman Schmidlin & Partners in Barcelona as Partner and Creative Director responsible for providing a complete range of strategic brand consulting and creative design services.
Fumihito Sasada
Bravis International, Japan
Fumi Sasada was born in Western Japan, but attended high school and university in Los Angeles, USA. After graduating from the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena as a graphic and packaging major in 1975, Sasada joined the San Francisco office of Landor Associates. He returned to Japan as creative director of their Tokyo office in 1983 and was responsible for major corporate identity projects including Mizuno, Tokyo Gas, NEC and the Nagano Olympics. He was appointed Japan representative and deputy president of Landor Associates, Tokyo in 1992 and established Bravis International (the name is a fusion of the words "brand" and "visual") in June 1996.
With an in-depth knowledge of branding and design issues based on 30 years experience as a designer and a design director in the US, Japan and Asia, Sasada's passion for design remains undiminished.
Clients
Gavin Drake
Quark, Finland
Anssi Vanjoki joined Nokia in 1991, and was appointed to his present position on January 1st 2004. As Executive Vice President and General Manager of Multimedia, he heads a business group that is responsible for offering devices and content for bringing mobile multimedia to consumers. A highly respected brand authority with over 20 years of marketing experience, Anssi has been a driving force in Nokia's efforts of addressing the mobile markets.
Prior to joining Nokia, he held a variety of management positions at 3M Corporation. He serves on the board of Amer Group, and was a member of the Governing Committee of the European Foundation for Quality Management 2001 - 2003. He is a Knight, 1st Class, of the Order of the White Rose of Finland.
Anssi holds a master's degree in economics from the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration.
Moira Duff
Schlumberger, Germany
Monika Altmaier is an experienced manager and marketing strategist with proven success in both multinational organisations and medium sized enterprises. She has 18 years international experience in marketing, sales, communications, business administration and consultancy in the pharmaceutical and service industries.
She was appointed VP in marketing, sales and communication for Siemens Health Insurance in 1998. Prior to this position she has held a number of senior marketing and communication positions covering eg. Ciba Geigy (Zyma) and Novartis.
Her special interest in the impact of cultures on brands and her passion of international markets led her to act as project leader in internationalization. Monika has extensive branding and cultural experience in understanding, developing and delivering corporate identities.
Monika brings a wealth of international experience in six cultures (Spain, France, Great Britain, U.S., Scandinavia and Germany) to the table.
Hélène Venge
LEGO Company, Denmark
In May 2006, Helene Venge joined the LEGO Company in Denmark as Marketing Manager of Business Development. As such she helps the division define, structure and grow new business initiatives aimed at bringing the company and its users closer together.
Previously she was European Head of Digital Marketing at Levi Strauss & Co., where she was responsible for developing the Levi's® brand across digital media and channels, winning numerous awards in the process.
Born and raised in Copenhagen, Denmark, Helene started her career in
media and marketing at the tender age of 18 when she took an after-school
job as DJ at the local radio station, followed by 4 years of club management
during university, and converting an old incinerator in the outskirts of
Copenhagen into a youth culture venue.
Somehow that led to grown-up jobs at the Danish Music Council, Sony Music,
Levi Strauss & Co. and now LEGO Company.
Georg Bucher
BMW, Germany
Georg Bucher was born in Munich, Germany, and is married with three children.
His career with BMW has spanned over 25 years, including periods in Munich, Pretoria, Tokyo and Scandinavia (Stockholm, Oslo and Helsinki). His responsibilities have covered various areas including Sales, Export, Marketing and Development.
He is currently General Manager for the New EU Markets Sales Region.
Jean Poulallion
The Walt Disney Company, France
Jean Poulallion is 43 years old and is married with 3 children. He graduated from E.S.C.P (Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris) in 1985. After spending 15 months of military service as a Reserve Navy Officer, he started his career at Jacobs Suchard (now Kraft Foods) in 1987, working on the coffee brands Carte Noire and Grand'Mere and chocolate (the Nussini bar).
From 1990 to 1995, he was Marketing then Sales Manager at Masterfoods (Mars, Inc), and for the next 5 years he occupied the role of International Marketing Director at Remy Cointreau S.A., launching various Piper-Heidsieck champagne brands.
He joined Euro Disney S.A. (Disneyland Resort Paris) in October 2001 as Managing Director for France. Since April 2004, he has been employed by The Walt Disney Company as Vice President, Strategic Marketing and Synergy, France & Benelux.
Berry Oonk
Akzo Nobel, The Netherlands
Berry Oonk is Head of Corporate Branding at Akzo Nobel, a Dutch-based multinational active in human and animal healthcare, coatings and chemicals.
The responsibility of his unit is to guide and steer the Akzo Nobel
corporate brand and, more importantly, to build on it. Prior to joining
Akzo Nobel in 2005, Berry was Corporate Brand Manager at Royal DSM in the
Netherlands. Employed in the corporate communications department, he
managed DSM's corporate brand and was also responsible for the
Unlimited.DSM campaign.
Berry completed an MSc at RSM Erasmus University in Rotterdam in business administration and studied for the CEMS pan-European Masters degree in international management at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, a program taught jointly by 17 leading European management schools. He is currently completing his Masters degree in Brand Management.
Andrew Q Harvey
Eversheds, UK
In his current role at international law firm, Eversheds, Andrew is responsible for marketing across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. His role is to develop the business of one of the worlds largest firms of lawyers; Eversheds acts for many leading multi-nationals, governments and public sector bodies. Andrew believes that successful marketing is a real team effort - so much of his energy is devoted to coaching and building a world class team.
Prior to entering the legal world, Andrew held a number of senior marketing roles in the transport sector - most recently at Virgin and National Express Group. Andrew is a Fellow of the Charted Institute of Marketing and lives in the rural English Midlands.
Uwe Steyer
Qiagen, Germany
Uwe Steyer is a senior marketing professional with 20 years of experience spanning both high technology and medical device / diagnostic industries for international markets, with a unique blend of demonstrated success in creating strategic solutions while driving tactical results. His strengths include product and marketing management, marketing and corporate communications and branding.
Since 2001 he has worked in the Life Sciences field as Global Marketing Communications Manager for Qiagen. As a member of the Global Senior Marketing Team, he is responsible for developing and delivering strategic plans and tactical activities to build companies awareness in the market, especially for new product areas.
He previously worked as Global Marketing Manager for the precious metal and technology group Heraeus Kulzer and before that as International Product Manager for Bayer AG and for Bauerfeind AG.
Sandro Marini
Bang & Olufsen, Italy
Sandro Marini is an architect and visual designer. From 1998 to 2000 he worked as a packaging designer and graphic designer, producing numerous designs for Aprilia, Benelli and Coop. From 2000 to 2002 he was Visual Communications Manager for Marconi Mobile, responsible for both corporate image and designing the company's stands for trade fairs throughout the world.
Sandro has won awards such as the Graphic Design Contest organized by the European Community (Amsterdam, 1990), the Italian Oscar for packaging (Milan, 1997) and "Best Exhibition Stand" at the TETRA World Congress (Rome, 2000). He also designed the concept for the "Portaparola" communication area of the daily newspaper Avvenire (2003).
From 2002 he designed stores and displays for Bang & Olufsen in Italy. He is currently Retail and Marketing Manager of Bang & Olufsen Italia and is responsible for the B&O store concept at corporate level.
Valeria Ghirardi
L'Oréal, Italy
Valeria Ghirardi was born in Torino, Italy, in 1972. Between 1992 and 1997, she studied Industrial Engineering & Management at the Politecnico of Torino.
Her career with the L'Oréal Group began in 1998, when she joined the group as Product Manager for Vichy Italy. In 2000, she was promoted to Group Manager at the Vichy International Marketing Department in Paris, and in 2002, she became Marketing Director of Vichy-Inneov Italy.
She was appointed to her current role as General Manager of La Roche Posay Italy in September 2005.
Her hobbies include diving, cooking and reading.
Public
Andrew Danson
Trainee Solicitor at Olswang, UK
Andrew Danson, 27, is a Trainee Solicitor at media law firm Olswang in London. He graduated from Cambridge University with a degree in History, and made his way to Olswang after travelling extensively and pursuing a career in professional cricket.
Francesca Ponti
Agronomist at Emilia Romagna Region, Italy
Francesca Ponti is an agronomist and works in the food and wine promotion division of the agriculture department of the Emilia-Romagna regional administration. Her work concerns planning and driving forward the implementation of food quality campaigns, as well the organisation of events in Italy and abroad for quality food promotion.
Cécile Lescat
Marketing Agency Account Manager, France
Cécile Lescat is a 26-year-old from Toulouse, France. She works for an international marketing agency as an Account Manager.
Flora Hevesi
Postgraduate Student at University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Peter Martin Larsen is studying for an M.Sc. in Economics at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark after graduating from both the University of Copenhagen and the London School of Economics. His hobbies include chess, football and wine-making.
Joaquim Pimentel
Projects Manager at Portuguese Association for Consumer Protection, Portugal
Joaquim Pimentel was brought up in sunny South Africa where he studied Economics and Management at the University of Pretoria and South Africa, thereafter completing an honorary degree in Business Management. He moved to Portugal in 2001, and since then has worked as a Projects Manager at DECO, the Portuguese Association for Consumer Protection.
Karel Pavlik
Consumers Defence Association, Czech Republic
Karel Pavlik has worked in the Consumers Defence Association of the Czech Republic since 1998. He is a member of the committee responsible for international relations, cooperation with Consumers International, BEUC and Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue.
Grazyna Rokicka
President of Association of Polish Consumers, Poland
Grazyna Rokicka is President and Managing Director of the Association of Polish Consumers. She has a long and wide-ranging experience in economic science, market research and consumers' rights. She is a member of numerous professional bodies concerned with areas including consumer protection and European integration.
Rob Tuinstra
Editor at "Highlife" Magazine, The Netherlands
Rob Tuinstra is 45 years old, and lives in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He graduated in 1981 in journalism. Besides his work as a journalist he has had numerous jobs, for instance barkeeper, bicycle messenger and night porter. At the moment he is chief editor of the Dutch magazine Highlife.
Mike Ford
PhD Student at Central European University, Hungary
Edina Vadovics is an environmental manager and trainer, and she is currently working on her PhD in the field of sustainable consumption at the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary.
Alex Zaphiriou
Trainee Cardiologist, Greece
Alex Zaphiriou is a Greek cardiologist in training, currently based at Imperial College in London. His interests include world music, jazz, art films, literature, cooking and yoga.
