PLASTicon Jury Fact Sheet

Robert Butterfield

Global Market Director, Design Innovation & Technology Demonstration

GE Plastics, Automotive

PLASTicon Jury Foreman

Robert Butterfield is global market director, Design Innovation & Technology Demonstration for GE Plastics’ Automotive division. Previously he served as Vice President of Fitch. In this role he was responsible for the creation strategy and art direction behind GE Plastics internationally recognised Aesthetics Program. Butterfield is also a regular contributor to design-related conferences. Butterfield holds several international and domestic design awards (Sony international design award), his work has been featured in design magazines such as: ID, magazine Icon, and Pro design. His highly acclaimed designs have been featured at exhibitions in New York and Milan. Butterfield has consulted to Ford, Mclaren, Jaguar, Sony, Xbox, Fisher & Paykel and Motorola.

Mark Kingsley

General Manager of Marketing

GE Plastics, Automotive

Mark Kingsley is general manager of Marketing for GE Plastics, Automotive, a position he has held since January 2005. Previously, Kingsley served as president of GE Plastics Americas operations in Latin America. Prior to that – from late 2001 to 2003 – he led the company’s Profit & Loss (P&L) efforts in South America. Kingsley joined GE in 1989 as a customer service representative. Since then he has held numerous key positions in business development, automotive global account management, and industry and product management. His product management responsibilities included the role of product manager for the Noryl* resins business. Kingsley has also served as the global marketing director for display products and as director of e-business development.

Kingsley earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and economics from St. Lawrence University, Canton, N.Y. He also studied at Kokusai Kirisutokyo Diagaku, Mitaka, Japan.

* Noryl is a trademark of General Electric Company

Geert-Jan Schellekens

Principal Automotive & Industrial Designer

GE Plastics

Geert joined GE in 1995, following an international career in automotive design.

His background includes engineering and design project roles with DAF Trucks and other coachbuilders in the Netherlands and Belgium, plus styling projects at Volvo in the Netherlands and Peugeot in France.

In 1991, he joined Mercedes-Benz in Germany, where he worked as exterior stylist and lead 3D surface development of several car and commercial vehicle models, held general project responsibility and was one of the key designers that stood at the origin of the car brand’s current ‘family face’ and strong corporate identity. Projects include the CLK, 1st and 2nd generation, the S Class, Sprinter facelift and O350 luxury coach.

At GE, Geert became involved in the full bandwidth of industrial design, leading a multitude of consumer and business related projects throughout Europe. At the same time, his unique expertise in automotive styling and design has resulted in many consultancy programs, conducted or lead by him for OEMs’ styling and design organizations.

Royal College of Art

Dale Harrow

Head of Vehicle Design Department

Royal College of Art

Dale Harrow is a graduate of Coventry University and is a well-known automotive and industrial designer. He has been active as a design consultant and has collaborated with many automotive and design companies including Seymour Powell, Pentagram, Yamaha, Honda, Sony, Phillips and Tefal.

He is committed to design education and has been at the Royal College of Art since 1989. He became Head of the Vehicle Design Department in 1999.

Always keen to raise the intellectual debate about vehicle design and has lectured internationally on the subject. He is researching the origins and history of automotive design.

Dale’s has had a broad range of industrial experience and his professional portfolio includes the redesigned London Taxi Cab which considered the visually impaired and disabled users including wheelchair access. The cab was awarded a Design Council Milenium Product 2000.

Recently Dale has collaborated with the British Council to promote investment in UK design in Japan and China and Korea and is currently collaborating with a Korean Motor manufacturer on design and brand strategy.

BBC Top Gear identified Dale at the eighth most important person in the automotive industry in December 2003. Autocar Magazine published ‘Top 100 most Influential Brits’ in May 2004 and identified Dale as number 33 amongst a handful of designers.

Professor Jeremy Myerson

Director of Innovation

Royal College of Art

Jeremy Myerson is professor of design studies at the Royal College of Art, where he heads the Innovation RCA network for business and is co-director of the RCA's Helen Hamlyn Research Centre, a centre for inclusive design.

Jeremy Myerson holds a Masters degree from the Royal College of Art. He developed his interest in design and innovation as a journalist and editor working on a number of titles including Design, Creative Review and World Architecture. From 1986-89, he was Founding Editor of Design Week, the world's first weekly newsmagazine for designers and their clients - a publication that profoundly influenced how design firms in the UK operate.

He is the author of a number of books on design, business and society, including ‘The 21st Century Office’, ‘New Workplace New Culture’ and ‘IDEO: Masters of Innovation and New Public Architecture’. He has curated many national exhibitions, including ‘Doing A Dyson’ at the Design Museum and Rewind: 40 years of Design and Advertising at the V&A. He has consulted internationally with a number of business and government organisations and is also a frequent broadcaster.

David Ahmad

Head Tutor, Vehicle Design

Royal College of Art

David Ahmad has 10 years of experience in Vehicle and Product Design and has been involved in projects for Alfa Romeo, FIAT, Honda, Pininfarina, KIA-Hyundai and Smart. He has studied Aerospace Engineering in the US, Transportation Design in Italy and he is currently doing an Exec-MBA at the London Business School. He is the founder of strategic design consultancy Welopus.

OEMs

Satoru Tai

Vice President

Nissan Design Europe (NDE)

Satoru Tai became Vice-President of Nissan Design Europe (NDE), the company’s vehicle design studio in Paddington, London in October 2003. NDE opened in January 2003 and is home to a large team of international designers, modelers and support staff. The studio’s mission is to design the next generation of Nissan cars for Europe and beyond.

A graduate in Production Design from the University of Tsukuba, Satoru Tai joined Nissan in the Design Department in 1982. He has since held a number of positions in Design and Product Planning, including a four year assignment at Nissan Research and Development Inc. in the United States. In 1988, he undertook post-experience training in the Vehicle Design department of the Royal College of Art in London. In 2000, Mr. Tai became the Product Chief Designer in charge of the Micra/ March and Cube models.

Russell Carr

Chief Designer

Lotus Design

A graduate of Coventry University's Industrial Design Transportation course, Russell Carr joined Lotus in 1990, becoming Chief Designer for Lotus Design in 1998. He is responsible for the design of all new Lotus cars as well as managing design and show car build projects for external clients. Russell has worked on such vehicles as the original Elise, Esprit S4 and Lotus 107 Formula 1 car. Since becoming Chief Designer he has either been directly responsible for, or managed the design of, several new Lotus cars including the Elise as well as numerous client programs.

David Cole

Consultant

GM Europe

David holds a BA Degree of Industrial Design Transportation at the Coventry Polytechnic University in England. In 2002 David founded the STUDIO7A Limited company to provide computer aided design and modeling services to the automotive design industry. Current clients include Ford Motor Company, Jaguar Cars, General Motors and Hyundai Motor Company. From

2002-2005 David was a visiting tutor at the Royal College of Art Vehicle Design Department in London.

Thomas Bürkle

Chief Designer

Hyundai Europe

Bio upon request

3rd Party

Brett Patterson

Editor in Chief

Car Design News

With 12 years experience as a senior designer for General Motors, Brett worked on a wide range of vehicle development programs at GM Design Centers in Australia, Germany, USA and Sweden. Brett is the founder of Car Design News, and for the last five years has been extensively involved in coverage of the major transportation design schools worldwide.

Car Design News is the leading online magazine for automotive design industry professionals, transportation design students and design enthusiasts worldwide, giving a global overview of the latest automotive design news, in-depth coverage of major auto shows and student design exhibitions, as well as design reviews by industry professionals, and feature articles covering the design process behind new concept and production vehicles. Car Design News also provides resources for students and professional designers, including online design portfolio space and design tutorials.

Reader enquiries

GE Plastics, Automotive

Plasticslaan 1
4600 AC Bergen op Zoom

+31 164 29 31 48

anne.clement@​ge.com