Press Releases
MADISON, WISCONSIN – Design Concepts, Inc., an award-winning innovation and product design consultancy headquartered in Madison, WI, has deepened the firm’s expertise in industrial design with the addition of Bill Dorr to the key leadership position of director of industrial design.
In his role, Bill is responsible for driving design thinking and execution across Design Concepts’ team of eight industrial designers. He focuses his expertise on nurturing creative thought while ensuring design alignment with client goals and objectives. Throughout his career, Bill has developed particular strengths in design execution for manufacturing, brand strategy and creative collaboration.
Bill brings to the firm more than ten years of design leadership experience in both corporate and consulting environments. Bill was a founding partner of notable design firms in both Atlanta and Phoenix. He has extensive product design experience in consumer electronics gained at technology leaders including Compaq Computer Corporation. Most recently, Bill was senior vice president of marketing and design at Uniden America Corporation in Fort Worth, Texas.
Ami Verhalen, Design Concepts’ vice president of design, shares, “I am thrilled to welcome Bill to the firm. He brings a wealth of experience to Design Concepts as an accomplished designer, a leader in business and a mentor to design talent. We’re extremely pleased to be able to share with our clients Bill’s depth of talent and expertise.”
About Design Concepts: Design Concepts, Inc. is an innovation and product design consultancy with more than 45 years of experience providing product and service expertise spanning strategy, research, design, human factors, engineering and prototyping. www.design-concepts.com
MADISON, WISCONSIN – Design Concepts, Inc., an award-winning innovation and design consultancy headquartered in Madison, WI, has broadened its ability to respond to clients’ needs with the addition of a business strategy competency.
In addition to research, design strategy, industrial design, human factors, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and prototype development, the 45-year-old firm recently expanded to include business strategy acumen among its client services. Offering clients expertise in business strategy ensures that the firm provides actionable solutions that build brands and drive business success.
Marlisa Kopenski, Design Concepts’ director of business strategy, and Dan Sarbacker, senior business strategist, bring strong academic and professional backgrounds in business to the department.
Kopenski earned a bachelor’s degree from Marquette University and a Master of Business Administration, with an emphasis on management and strategy, from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. Her professional experience includes expertise in strategy, brand management and marketing at companies including E. & J. Gallo Winery, Kraft Foods and Kahler Slater, an experience design firm.
Dan Sarbacker’s background includes earning a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin School of Business with a concentration in entrepreneurial management. Sarbacker holds a bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Washington University in St. Louis. In addition to his work in the fields of residential and commercial architecture, Sarbacker has experience in the consumer goods, athletics and packaged food industries. Prior to joining Design Concepts, Sarbacker worked with Oculus architectural firm.
Explaining the value of business strategy to the field of new product development, Kopenski states, “The addition of business strategy is really about helping our clients mitigate risk. It ensures that innovation meets our clients’ criteria for business success.”
Business strategy will provide a powerful pairing with the firm’s design strategy and research departments. Expanding on the relationship between design strategy and business strategy, Stefanie Norvaisas, director of research and design strategy and a principal of the firm, shares, “By adding business strategy as a formal discipline we quantify the impact of design options and help our clients make informed, strategic decisions with more certainty.”
About Design Concepts: Design Concepts, Inc. is an innovation and design consultancy with more than 45 years of experience providing product and service expertise spanning strategy, research, design, human factors, engineering and prototyping. www.design-concepts.com
MADISON, WISCONSIN – Design Concepts, Inc., an award-winning innovation and design consultancy headquartered in Madison, WI, has expanded the firm’s ability to respond to clients’ product and service design needs with the addition of Seng Weiland to the business development unit. Weiland joins Design Concepts as a strategic account manager for Wisconsin and the Midwestern region.
Within her role at Design Concepts, Seng will share the firm’s process and wide range of capabilities with industry leaders in medical, consumer and commercial industries located in Wisconsin and throughout the area.
Seng brings to the firm more than a decade of experience in client management in human resources consulting, digital marketing and online media industries. Prior to joining Design Concepts, Weiland worked with Integrated Marketing Think Tank, Tarsus Group and Drake Beam Morin. She has a Master of Arts degree in organizational leadership from DePaul University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in advertising and public relations from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.
Rainer Schnabel, director of product development at Design Concepts, shares, “We are very pleased to welcome Seng to the firm. Seng brings a wonderful background of experience in account management and will extend our tradition of outstanding customer service to our growing list of clients.”
About Design Concepts: Design Concepts, Inc. is an innovation and design consultancy with more than 45 years of experience providing product and service expertise spanning strategy, research, design, human factors, engineering and prototyping. www.design-concepts.com
Design Concepts’ staff members Stefanie Norvaisas, principal and director of strategy & research, and Lucas McCann, senior design strategist, will lead the workshop “More Meaningful Mapping: The How and Why of Diagramming Experiences,” at the 2011 Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference (EPIC), Boulder CO, September 20, 2011.
The theme of EPIC 2011 is “Evolution/Revolution: Change and Ethnographic Work.”
The three-day conference will feature presentations, workshops and numerous collaborative opportunities. The conference brings together strategists and researchers from around the world to discuss the theory and practice of ethnography in industry.
Within their workshop, “More Meaningful Mapping,” Norvaisas and McCann will explore visual mapping tools that aid ethnographic researchers in understanding people and processes. The hands-on workshop challenges participants to view maps as more than descriptive tools and utilize experience maps as catalysts to create strategies and facilitate decisions. Maps of journeys, processes, and ecologies will be explored. Through concrete examples and rapid-fire team challenges, workshop attendees will learn why, when and how of experience mapping.
Design Concepts, Inc., a nationally-recognized innovation and design consultancy headquartered in Madison, WI, has increased its ability to share award-winning product development solutions with the addition of Rick Stein to the firm’s business development unit. Rick joins Design Concepts as a strategic account manager for the Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN area.
Rick brings to Design Concepts an extensive background in business development and account management with a specialization in medical device design. Within his role at Design Concepts, Rick utilizes his in-depth knowledge of the industry to tailor the firm’s methodology and services to meet the needs of industry leaders in the Twin Cities and elsewhere.
Stein’s passion for healthcare and medical device development has been the focus of his career. Prior to joining Design Concepts, he was Vice President of Business Development at Devicix, in Minneapolis, MN. His work experience includes not only developing strategic business associations with leading device manufacturers but committing to the future of the field by volunteering at the University of Minnesota and at LifeScience Alley.
Jim Womble, director of business development and principal of Design Concepts, explains, “We are thrilled to welcome Rick to Design Concepts. We’re very pleased to be able to offer Rick’s experience and insights to our clients in the Twin Cities.”
About Design Concepts: Design Concepts, Inc. is an innovation and design consultancy with more than 44 years of experience providing product and service expertise spanning strategy, research, design, human factors, engineering and prototyping. www.design-concepts.com
