Co-founder and creative director of Design Works International, Nancy works alongside Neil Breslau, her business partner, husband and co-founder of Design Works International. She is recognized for her natural ability to connect her passion for color and design with a keen understanding of the changes and developments in lifestyle trends, helping brands to not only adapt but capitalize on an ever-changing market.
Jeronimo Cooklin founded the Sustainable Furnishings Council to transform the home furnishings Industry and to help preserve the world's forests. Involved in the furniture Industry since 1986 and in Sustainable Development since 1998, he put these two together to form SFC in late 2006. Founder of PaTS, a Peruvian nonprofit org in the Peruvian Amazon working since 2000 with Yanesha indigenous community members to become artisans and business people to create a sustainable living for their families while preserving their forests.
Jason is internationally renowned in the furniture industry for his fresh contemporary designs. His work has been published in dozens of design and lifestyle magazines as well as hundreds of blogs. Most recently, he was honored at the 21st Annual ARTS Awards as Product Designer of the Year, the youngest ever recipient of this prestigious award. In late 2009 he won the VERANDA magazine’s inaugural ‘The Art of Design’ Award for his body of work in the ‘Trade Secrets’ category.
Michael J. Hirschhorn is founder & CEO of mebl | Transforming Furniture. By expanding the market for beautiful new furniture reimagined from old wood, metal and plastic, mebl seeks to help accelerate the transition to an environmentally sustainable and circular economy.
A veteran in the interior textiles market with 30 years experience, Jennifer K. Harmon is the Director of Business Development, Specialty Interiors at Milliken & Company. Her passion for textiles can be traced back to her early career years in textile design and product development. As a seasoned, visionary business executive, she applies both creative & critical thinking skills and believes advancing both art and science is vital in the business environment.
Cindy Morris is president and CEO of Dallas Market Center, the global wholesale marketplace and tradeshow management company hosting dozens of business-to-business trade events each year inside its 5 million square foot campus.
Abi Sood is Founder & CEO of Avasa Home. He was born and raised around the textile business. His family's sourcing business has been operating out of India since the 1960s, sourcing products from all over south Asia and offering them to the world. After joining the family business for a short time in the 1990s, Abi decided to break off on his own and started manufacturing home textiles.
Julia Noran Johnston is President of Business of Home, which she founded in 2009, and has made it the go-to source for insight and analysis on business trends for interior design professionals and anyone working in the home category. She has covered the industry for nearly 20 years, starting out at Architectural Digest and then Veranda, and currently oversees content creation and distribution to over 180,000 design professionals through BOH's online and print channels. She is on the Board of Directors for the Decorative Furni
Jonsara Ruth is Design Director at Parsons The New School Healthy Materials Lab, Founding Director of the MFA Interior Design Program, and Associate Professor at Parsons School of Design. Here she led AFTERTASTE, a symposium that brings new definition to the field of interiors. Central to her work is listening to and learning from diverse perspectives, and studying human experience, behavior, and health as principal motivations for design. Material curiosities drive her research.
Interior designer Thom Filicia is founder and principal of New York City-based design firm, Thom Filicia, Inc., which has earned him widespread acclaim and notable clients.
