Rick DaCruz is the Divisional Vice President of International Sourcing at American Freight Furniture, Mattress, Appliance, as well as a GREEN AP. American Freight, a subsidiary of Franchise Group Inc. (NASDAQ: FRG), offers affordable, high-quality furniture, mattresses and appliances through its direct-to-consumer, warehouse-style stores. With more than 5 million satisfied customers, American Freight has a strong legacy of helping customers save money since 1994.
Caitie is the accessory merchandiser, Creative Lead, & Sustainability lead as well as a designer at Walter E. Smithe Furniture & Design, her family’s fourth generation retail business with stores in the Chicago area, northwest Indiana and coming soon to Naples, FL. Caitie is a graduate of the University of Colorado’s LEEDS School of Business- which has social responsibility, ethics, and sustainability as hallmarks of its curriculum. Caitie resides outside of Chicago with her husband, six kids, and dog.
Phantila Phataraprasit is the co-founder and CEO of Sabai Design, a sustainable furniture company with the mission to make conscious living accessible. After graduating from Columbia, she worked at Morgan Stanley for a year before attending NYU School of Law. Phantila is from Thailand, was recognized by Inc.’s Female Founders 100 (2021) and is passionate about all things sustainable/circular.
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 adapt and capitalize on an ever-changing market.
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. Notably, 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 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 has a passion for textiles that 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.
Abi Sood is Founder & CEO of Avasa Home. He was born and raised around the textile industry. 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.
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.
Michela is the Founder of MOCA+, offering an innovative approach to design thinking and leadership for companies making good design the foundation of their business strategy. Michela is the former CEO of Dwell Media, building it from its start-up phase to an internationally recognized media brand. Prior to Dwell she led companies from startup to exit and turnaround to high growth, at companies like IDG, Softbank, McGrawHill, Ziff Davis, and Future Media.
