LinkedIn Dan Vlahos is a Boston-based design leader, educator, and researcher. He is currently a Senior Lecturer at Bentley University and is President of AIGA Boston. Vlahos is also a member of the Boston Society of Printers and was a founding member of Design Museum Boston (now CoDesign Collaborative). His interdisciplinary design work has been recognized by the AIGA, the One Club, Print, How, and the Interactive Media Council. Vlahos began his career in Arnold Worldwide’s Volkswagen Design Group and later served as Creative Director for Shepley Bulfinch architects. His past clients include Harvard University, Duke University, Educators for Social Responsibility, and the Industrial History Center. Vlahos received an MFA and BFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design, where he first began teaching in 2009. His research explores empowerment, complexity, dynamic media, sustainability, and creative learning. In 2020, Merrimack College’s Interdisciplinary Institute named Vlahos a Presidential Fellow, and in 2021, Vlahos entered into the Design Incubation program as a Writing Fellow. In 2023, he became a USGBC LEED Green Associate and an AIGA Design Leader (DL). In 2024, Vlahos was named an AACSRE Emerging Fellow.

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Amy Parker is the Executive Design Director and Co-founder of Woods Creative, a research and design firm, located in Boston and Portland, Maine. At Woods she leads creative strategy, ideation, and digital design to make communication solutions, digital products, and visual languages for brands spanning Fortune 500s to NASDAQ tech companies to non-profit arts organizations.

As Vice President of Programming at AIGA Boston, Amy actively builds community and brings people together across New England to uncover unexpected opportunities for collaboration. Most recently she co-founded the GENUX Symposium and co-leads ICA Boston’s Designer Lecture series. In addition to being plugged into the Boston design scene, she serves on the board of directors for SPACE and teaches design as an adjunct faculty member at the Maine College of Art & Design.

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Based in Providence, Rhode Island, Leland focuses on digital product design and code, spanning teams across creative and engineering. He currently freelances as an independent contributor to teams large and small. As Director of Partnerships, he works towards building relationships with businesses and organizations in the Boston and New England area, with a focus on cultivating long-lasting growth opportunities for AIGA and the local creative community. Reach out to Leland for all things Partnerships, Design, and mountain biking.

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Maria Galante is an Adjunct professor, designer, and calligrapher. She has been teaching for over ten years preceded by a career as an art director in the Internet and financial services industries. Students are educated in the use of graphic design as a form of visual communication through the use of type, image, form, and color using analog methods and Adobe Creative Cloud. Maria’s curriculum provides students with opportunities for self-discovery of their own experiences, inspirations and cultures for application to their projects. She is a freelance designer and often volunteers to design for non-profits and social change organizations. Her education includes a Graduate Certificate in UX/UI, Master in Education, BFA in graphic design, and a professional teaching license. Maria is currently researching typography in Gloucester, Massachusetts and its influence on the local fishing industry and its culture.

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Duncan Lawrence is founder of Bend, a digital marketing studio centered on kindness, located outside of Boston. He works with clients to help identify ways to align business objectives with true customer needs, and develop marketing and experience that generate kindness and revenue.

As a volunteer for AIGA Boston, he has been a producer for DxB360 (a social good design thinking challenge), data and analytics support, and most recently the VP, Communications.

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