Born in Mexico City, Marga obtained a B.F.A in Graphic Design from the InterContinental University, with a focus on branding and corporate identity. Marga gained experience working at prestigious design firms in Mexico such as Signi and Landor, for companies such as Danone, Procter and Gamble, Grupo Modelo (Corona Beer), Cemex, Sony, Geo, American Express and Grupo Bachoco. Marga’s work has been recognized by the Mercomm ARC Awards and the NAIC Nicholson Awards as well as with her catalogue design work for Sony at the 2004 Premio Quorum. She currently works at Ideastream Design as Design Director for clients such as ICBC, BC Hydro, Vancity, Fincentric and BC Housing.

Mark Busse is the Co-founder and Design Director at Industrial Brand, a full service communication design agency based in Vancouver. He also serves as President of GDC/BC, board member of Vancouver ACM SIGGRAPH and advisor & design educator at Vancouver Film School.
Growing up, Busse played soccer, drew obsessively, worked as a cook, an audio/video salesman, a live audio technician, and even apprenticed as an auto-mechanic and lithography pressman. Busse studied fine arts and business management at UBC and Trinity Western University, providing him with the necessary tools for graphic design and shaped his lifelong passion for communication and problem-solving.

Mark has nearly 20 years of creative management experience having created identity, brand and interactive projects for both national and international clients such as Future Shop, Nokia, Club Intrawest, Telus, Molson, SFU, CMHC, and UBC, among others. Busse’s branding, print and interactive design work has been recognized by Communication Arts Magazine, ADCC, How Magazine, Applied Arts, Lotus Awards, Graphics Exchange, Potlatch, Portfolios.com, Webbies, and International Gallery of Superb Printing’s well as being featured in the permanent collection at his mom’s house.

Darren Carcary tells strategic stories through motion design and film. He has art directed and produced more than 50 shows for clients including The Four Seasons, Intrawest, Parklane Homes and Vancity. As founder and creative director of Resolve Design, he has also helped establish the branding of national broadcast productions for Discovery Channel HD and Global Television.

As Principal of COBER, Michael has had the opportunity to play a significant role in helping businesses and organizations develop and establish effective and relevant design solutions. From identity and brand creation through to interface design and development Michaels experience and expertise has afforded the opportunity to fulfill a full spectrum of business objectives and requirements. Michael is a graduate of the Kwantlen Polytechnic Design Program, a member of AIGA and The Designers Accord. With over 15 years of industry experience Michael has had the opportunity to work with a diverse group of clients including Arc’teryx, Rocky Mountain Bicycles, Upholstery Arts, EA Sports and BARE. Having been born in Vancouver and raised on a small farm in northern BC Michael has the unique gift of being able to readily identity typographic patterns in cattle herds.

One of the few born and bread Vancouverites left in the world, Steve currently resides as an Interactive Designer at Industrial Brand.
First educated at the University of British Columbia as a classical musician and later at Langara College as a Communication Designer, Steve now teaches Web Development at the Electronic Media Design program at Langara College.
When not pumping out websites at Industrial Brand, Steve maintains a career by night as one of the few photographers dedicated to documenting live concerts in Vancouver.

Ashlea is the Founder and Creative Director of Pixsoul Media, a full service design studio and brings with her over 10 years experience in the creative world of marketing communications and new media design. Once graduating from Kwantlen University with a degree in Marketing Communications, Ashlea contributed her promotional advertising expertise to a national guerrilla marketing agency. Ashlea’s expansion of her technical and new media design skills came from the New Media Centre of Excellence at BC’s premier polytechnic institute BCIT, where she graduated with honors. Only a few short years later, Ashlea was a part-time professor for BCIT in the areas of Project Management and Web Design. She is now called upon as a new media design speaker for educational conferences and industry events.

Andy Maier has 16 years of experience in design and strategic brand development. In his Sponsorship role, Andy is eager to leverage the benefits of the local business community into value for the design community. His company, COURAGEOUSb, offers Brand Encouragement and Creative services to organizations that have the courage to make a social, environmental and community impact that goes beyond just financial returns. Andy has a 1989 Foundation Year Certificate from Emily Carr, and a 1992 Diploma from Capilano College’s Graphic Design & Illustration program where he was a Salazar Awards Finalist. Andy worked for many years with the BC Epilepsy Society pro-bono and he currently volunteers on the Hospitality & Restaurants Committee of BC Children’s Hospital.

Stu was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and started his career over twenty years ago after graduating from Kwantlen University’s Applied Design Program. Prior to his extensive work in resort marketing, he’s accumulated a wide range of experience including: branding and identity, print/broadcast/web advertising, packaging, environmental signage and wayfinding, 3D interior visualizing, architectural graphics, motion graphics, photography and film direction.

Stu has had acolytes and peer recognition including two Lotus Awards for print collateral and packaging during his time at Wasserman+Partners Advertising. He now applies the bulk of his knowledge solving large multi-faceted marketing efforts.

Jason has 18 years experience of bringing innovation to life in cutting-edge internet product development, branding, multi-disciplinary design, and business strategy. A graduate of London’s prestigious Central St. Martins school of Art, he created and guided the design teams of award winning web publishing tools and visual communications for broadcaster CTV and others, has served as Director of Operations for a private educational institution and has delivered hundreds of lectures on internet and design related subjects. Critical scope includes internet product development, creative team building, visual design, branding and communication, online community development, user experience design, creative and business process analysis and business strategy development and knowledge systems development.

Eagranie is not a graphic designer. She is, however, a writer, blogger, former chemist, trained pastry chef, and classically trained pianist. Eagranie is a technical writer and business writer who works with companies to develop useful, educational and engaging materials. She understands how to tailor writing for different audiences and media, and has figured out how to tactfully (but effectively) edit other peoples’ writing. She sits on several committees at A Loving Spoonful, and is president of the Society for Technical Communication – Canada West Coast chapter. In all her spare time, she writes The Well-Tempered Chocolatier, a food science and chocolate blog that was selected as Vancouver’s best food blog in 2008.

Amanda Fetterly is driven by a passion for communication, the environment and social
change. Graduating with top honors from the advanced Electronic Media Design and Advertising and Graphic programs at Langara, she immediately began working as communications designer and project manager for boutique agencies in Vancouver. Her involvement in projects has included e-commerce and direct content delivery solutions for companies such as Nokia, and Bang-On T shirts. She’s developed and applied identities for national climate change ENGO’s and has worked on award-winning websites for the UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture and the coveted national design-competition website Graphex 2008.
As the incumbent Manager of Communications for the UBC Sustainability Office Amanda manages one of UBC’s most highly trafficked websites, sustain.ubc.ca and oversees and produces all communications efforts to promote, strengthen and build a culture of sustainability at UBC.

With an extensive background in visual art and a passion for business, Heather found herself studying Graphic Communications Management at Ryerson University in Toronto. After graduation, Heather began her career at Vancouver-based Hemlock Printers. Originally working in estimating, Heather quickly transitioned to Production Planner for Hemlock’s San Francisco clients, a position that she held for two years. Putting her degree in marketing to good use, Heather worked as Hemlock’s Marketing Manager until March 2008, when she moved to Karacters Design Group as a Senior Project Manager.
Heather jumped at the opportunity to serve on the GDC Executive Board. She is intrigued with Vancouver’s design community and is excited to work with such a creative group

An artist, designer and marketing specialist, Patricia is currently the Creative Director and Marketing Consultant at G.M. Communications in Vancouver. Patricia is an avid member of various volunteer associations and works closely with the Chinese community working with businesses, charities and the arts. Patricia studied at the prestigious Shanghai Arts & Crafts School and graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Department of Literature & Art.

Alex is GDC/BC’s Volunteer Coordinator focused on connecting the design community, from its students to its professionals. A tireless volunteer himself, Alex believes in the power of community and extending the reach of the GDC beyond the design circle. Alex is a communication designer with Industrial Brand.

Pauline is a communication designer specializing in cross-cultural design in both print and web development. Born in Hong Kong, she studied in the US and immigrated to Vancouver to gain a better insight into the convergence of Eastern and Western cultures.
With her BBA in marketing, her design emphasizes problem solving and is highly results-orientated. She currently works at Dreamzone Design and Communication on brand strategy, web development and much more.