DDM 2011 Speaker Spotlight - Chris Conley Co-Founder, Gravity Tank

Workshop: Corporate Creative Renaissance: Leadership, Not Control - Chris Conley, Co-Founder, gravity tank

Chris Conley's teaching, research, & consulting is focused on a multi-disciplinary approach to business innovation. His ground breaking work in getting cross-disciplinary teams to work together has been recognized by major corporations that have hired him to cultivate an innovative culture within their organizations. He is now collaborating with the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and the California Health Care Foundation to bring design & innovation methods to philanthropy and create sustainable growth for some of their most important programs. Prior to gravitytank, Conley was tenured professor of design and innovation at the Illinois Institute of Technology and prior to that, the Director of Global Design Planning for Motorola. Recognized throughout the industry, Conley was the 2006 chair of the IDEA/Business Week Awards and is a regular speaker at design conferences and competitions worldwide.

Chris is a founding partner of gravitytank and former tenured professor at IIT Institute of Design (ID). He works with gravitytank and leading firms like Samsung, Autodesk, Coinstar/RedBox, Plantronics and Unilever, to cultivate an innovative culture within their organizations. He guided a number of seminal programs between Unilever and their retail partners that culminated in the creation of their Customer Collaboration Centers in six global cities. He is working with the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and the California Health Care Foundation to bring design & innovation to philanthropy and create sustainable growth for some of their most effective programs. Conley was the 2006 chair of the IDEA/Business Week Awards and is a regular speaker at business conferences and leadership summits that focus on innovation and organizational culture. Chris holds a Master of Science degree in innovation and an engineering degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

gravitytank co-founder Chris Conley presents at 'Why Design Now'?, a conference held by the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and sponsored by GE on how design is playing a broader role in solving global challenges.

Make sure not to miss Chris's workshop Workshop Corporate Creative Renaissance: Leadership, Not Control Chris Conley, Co-Founder, gravity tank at Destination Design Management 2011 in San Francisco, California February 7-9, 2011.

Hope to see you all there!