Mauro Porcini, in his first European speaking engagement since joining Samsung as President & Chief Design Officer

Mauro Porcini is Samsung’s President & Chief Design Officer—the company’s first-ever CDO, appointed in 2025 to lead human-centered innovation during a pivotal era shaped by AI. At Samsung, he oversees a global organization of 1,500 designers across mobile, display, TV, and home appliance businesses, with studios in Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

Before joining Samsung, Mauro served as the first Chief Design Officer at two global corporations: PepsiCo, where he spent 13 years building a world-class, 400-person design capability across 19 cities, and 3M, where he spent 10 years shaping innovation across multiple business sectors and regions. His leadership at both companies helped redefine the strategic role of design in large-scale, multinational organizations.

Earlier in his career, Mauro began at Philips Design and later co-founded the Italian design agency Wisemad, expanding his influence in Europe’s creative and cultural scene. His early work in wearable technology has been exhibited internationally, including at the Louvre in Paris and the Seoul Arts Center.

Mauro is also an accomplished author of The Human Side of Innovation (winner of the Gold Medal at the Better Future – New York Design Awards), L’età dell’Eccellenza, and Good Design is for Everyone.

Across his career, Mauro and his teams have earned more than 2,500+ global design and innovation awards and numerous international honors. Among his most meaningful distinctions is his title as Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia—a Knight of Italy—bestowed by the President of the Italian Republic.

Dr Patricia Moore, esteemed leader in the movement of Universal Design and winner of the 2022 World Design Medal

Patricia Moore is an internationally renowned designer and gerontologist, serving as a leading authority on consumer lifespan behaviours and requirements. For a period of four years (1979-1982), in an exceptional and daring experiment, Moore traveled throughout the United States and Canada disguised as women more than eighty years of age. With her body altered to simulate the normal sensory changes associated with aging, she was able to respond to people, products, and environments as an elder.

Since 1990, Moore has designed more than three hundred physical medicine & rehabilitation environments for healthcare facilities throughout North America, Europe, China and Japan. A frequent international lecturer and media guest, Moore is the author of numerous articles and the books DISGUISED: A True Story, Ageing, Ingenuity & Design [2015], and OUCH! Why Bad Design Hurts [in works]. Her broad range of experience spans multiple disciplines of design, working with major corporations.

Moore holds undergraduate degrees in Industrial and Communication Design from the
Rochester Institute of Technology Advanced Studies in Biomechanics at NY University’s Medical School and graduate degrees in Psychology and Gerontology from Columbia University.

Holding a huge range of awards and honours from throughout her career, the World Design Organisation selected Moore for the World Design Medal, presented at the 2023 World Design Congress in Tokyo. Moore is the 2024 recipient of the Sir Misha Black Medal for her significant contribution to design education throughout her career.

Aporva Baxi, Executive Creative Director and Co-Founder of global brand agency DixonBaxi

Aporva Baxi is Co-Founder and Executive Creative Director of DixonBaxi, the global brand agency he leads with long-time creative and business partner Simon Dixon and a world class team of strategists, designers, writers, and makers. The agency helps some of the world’s most ambitious companies navigate moments of change, creating brands with clarity, character, and distinction that are built to perform at scale.

Their studio moves across culture, sport, entertainment, and technology, partnering with organisations such as Roblox, Formula One, ESPN, G42, Tubi, AC Milan, ITV, IMAX, Eurosport, Audible, Netflix, British Land, MTV, and Samsung. Their work is focused on building brands that stay relevant, adaptive, and ready for the future. Brands that draw on their equity, embrace invention, and remain unmistakably themselves as they grow.

He is committed to an open approach to practice through initiatives such as The DixonBaxi Way, Journeys, and the 500 page book REMIX, developed to support creative teams and leaders across the industry.

Aporva serves on the boards of The One Club for Creativity and the Art Directors Club in New York, has judged on the D&AD, Clios, Transform Branding Juries, and speaks internationally at events including D&AD, ADC and OFFF.

He believes meaningful transformation strengthens what makes a brand matter and gives it the imagination and clarity to lead its future.

Stephanie Verschoor, MD – User Experience Design and Digital Solutions at NatWest Group

Stephanie is a marketing specialist and business leader in brand & innovation strategy and creative development. As Head of New Digital Solutions & Design at NatWest Group she is responsible for customer experience design across the full user journeys in Commercial, Institutional, and international markets, across the NatWest Group’s portfolio of brands.

Prior to joining NatWest Group Stephanie led Reckitt’s design and brand communication across consumer touch points, design led innovation (new products and business models) and delivering world class customer experiences for a wide range of well known global brands (e.g. Dettol, Durex, Enfamil). Stephanie was also the business owner for RB’s global artwork management process & system. She was instrumental in building a global strategic design management team in Reckitt’s global headquarters.

Before Reckitt, in 2008, she worked as a lead designer and creative strategist for The Walt Disney Company creating branding, packaging, point-of-sale and digital solutions covering consumer products in fashion, food, stationary, home & toy categories for both the Disney & Pixar group of brands. Based in Los Angeles GHQ with subsequent moves to Munich and London.

Stephanie holds an MFA in Graphic and Interactive Design from the California Institute of Arts (Fulbright Scholar) and a BFA in Graphic Design, Video & 3D from the Arnhem Institute of Arts in the Netherlands. She has been the recipient of many global industry awards such as the Red Dot Product Design Award, the DBA Design Effectiveness Award, IF Gold Packaging Award and Dutch Best Book Design award. Stephanie is a driver of diversity and female leadership.

Simon Threadkell, Group Marketing Director, Brand Design and Customer Experience at Tesco

Simon spent the first half of his career in creative leadership roles in highly renowned Brand Design agencies, most notably FITCH where he was a Creative Director, working with brands in the UK, USA, ASIA and the Middle East.

He delivered effective and award-winning design led brand change for clients such as LEGO, M&S, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Walmart, Target, Orange, Central Food Thailand, Selfridges, Sony, HSBC.

Since joining Tesco in 2010 Simon has held several Brand Design Director roles delivering change across many aspects of the Tesco customer experience. Group masterbrand development, store environment, packaging, marketing communication content creation.

As a long-standing member of the Customer Leadership team, Simon was an integral member of the team who worked on the Tesco brand turnaround plan.

Mark Van Iterson, industrial design engineer and former Global Design Director at The Heineken Company

Mark van Iterson is an industrial design engineer by education.

After 13 years at brand design agency and innovation consultancy side, Mark joined the HEINEKEN Company in 2005 as Global Design Director. His main focus was the responsibility for all brand-identity design, packaging and POS developments for the Heineken® brand worldwide. In the rather traditional beer category, Heineken sets itself apart by its progressive and innovative drive. Design and innovation are a fundamental part of the strategy to enhance and elevate the beer experience, build iconic brand equity, create future business concepts, and engage and excite consumers. As of 2016 Mark was also responsible for making environmental sustainability an integral part of the Heineken brand and its design.

In 2023 Mark and his design team took on the responsibility for elevating the role of design for all brands and innovations in the HEINEKEN company portfolio. This meant ‘building the design muscle’ for global brands like Amstel, Desperados, Tiger, Birra Moretti, Strongbow, and also for dozens of local jewels such as Cruzcampo, Dos XX, Bintang, Zlaty Bazant, Red Stripe, Windhoek, etc.

Next to this, Mark is a frequent lecturer, speaker and juror, for example for Cannes Lions, D&AD, Pentawards, Dutch Design Awards, and DBA.

Kathleen Brandenburg, Harvard Professor and Co-Founder of global design and innovation consultancy IA Collaborative

Kathleen Brandenburg is an internationally recognized founder, thought leader, educator and speaker on the global stage. Kathleen has devoted her career to elevating design as a strategic value for business, organizations, and society. In 2000, she co-founded the global design innovation consultancy IA Collaborative to bring design process and methods to a wide range of industries and sectors, regardless of complexity or scale, and often those traditionally not associated with design.

Today, Kathleen is leading the conversation to elevate design’s impact even further, championing it as the way solve our world’s most urgent problems. A Harvard Visiting Professor of Design for Social Innovation, she is at the forefront of a movement to change the way healthcare understands and applies design, and is the author of Design for Health: The Beginning of a New Dialogue Between Design and Public Health.

Applied to society’s greatest challenges, Kathleen believes that a design approach can be world-changing. Recently nominated by The Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt as Visionary of The Year, Brandenburg has also been named a Master of Design and one of the 50 Most Influential Designers in America by Fast Company. She serves as an Illinois Tech trustee and the board of overseers at the Institute of Design, and is a sought-after speaker on the value and impact of design.

Dr Christina N Harrington, Research Scientist, Google Research – Technology, AI, Society, and Culture Team, and Affiliate Faculty, Human-Computer Interaction, Institute School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University

Christina Harrington is a designer and qualitative researcher who works at the intersection of interaction design and health and racial equity. She combines her background in electrical engineering and industrial design to focus on the areas of universal, accessible, and inclusive design. Specifically, she looks at how to use design in the development of products to support historically excluded groups such as Black and LatinX communities, older adults, and individuals with differing abilities in maintaining their health, wellness, and autonomy in defining their future.

Christina is a Research Scientist on the Technology, AI, Society and Culture Team at Google Research and was a Visiting Faculty Researcher on the responsible AI Human Centred Technology UX team at Google.

Christina is passionate about using design to centre communities that have historically been at the margins of mainstream design. She looks to methods such as design justice and community collectivism to broaden and amplify participation in design by addressing the barriers that corporate approaches to design have placed on our ability to see design as a universal language of communication and knowledge. Dr. Harrington is an Assistant Professor in the HCI Institute at Carnegie Mellon University and the Director of the Equity and Health Innovations Design Research Lab.

Mark Curtis, Former Head of Innovation, Accenture Song, and Co-Founder of Fjord

Mark Curtis is a serial entrepreneur and pioneering design strategist defined by bridging emerging technology with human needs. He co-founded Fjord in 2001, scaling it into a global design powerhouse before its acquisition by Accenture in 2013.

At Accenture, Mark shaped Accenture Song, leading Innovation and Thought Leadership while establishing a Global Sustainability studio. He created the renowned “Life Trends” report and published the book “Distraction” (2005).

Previously, he founded CHBi (sold to Razorfish) and pioneered mobile freemium models as CEO of Flirtomatic. He remains a trusted advisor to executive boards on digital transformation. He now publishes and podcasts weekly as part of Full Moon (www.wearefullmoon.com).

Nicola Tiffany, Managing Director, HMA Digital and Chair of the DBA Board of Directors

Nicola has spent more than two decades in the design industry, most of them at creative and digital agency HMA, where she has played a central role in shaping the agency’s growth and strategic direction. Under her leadership, HMA has developed a strong specialism in health, life sciences, and technology, delivering impactful work for NHS organisations, third-sector partners, start-up innovators, global pharmaceutical companies, and academic research teams.

She also contributes to the wider health-tech innovation landscape, delivering masterclasses and mentoring on digital health accelerator programmes and, more recently, helping to strengthen collaboration between industry and academia through her role on the industry sub-committee for the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Long-Term Conditions (Devices for Dignity).

Passionate about nurturing future talent and highlighting the breadth of careers within the creative and digital sectors, Nicola works closely with local schools and colleges – integrating digital components into design courses, setting live briefs, conducting mock interviews, and taking part in careers events and panel discussions.

Making the first move

• Government initiatives and support for international trade can transform the success of creative businesses operating overseas, as happened in the 1990s with parts of the industrial design sector. We’re currently in talks with government about the UK/India Free Trade Agreement, so if you’d like to be involved, then do let me know. 
• While we might be operating in different political climates today, there are lessons that can be taken from those successes. Engaging more broadly within your own sector, beyond your client base, can help build knowledge and experience across the wider supply chain. What initiatives could you get involved with? Check out the Government’s Business Academy events. 
• International trade isn’t just about the creative industries; it often sits within broader sectors like transport, manufacturing or technology. UK government initiatives, embassies and the Department for Business and Trade actively broker introductions, host targeted events and support sector-specific initiatives. Engaging with these programmes can open doors that are hard to access alone.
• International expansion isn’t right for every business at every stage. Having sufficient scale in your home market, a growth mindset and the ability to absorb setbacks are important to secure before making the leap.
• There’s extensive material to explore on the Government website with regards to selling services overseas.

Mitigating risks

• Breadth of experience within a sector is as important as spreading your risks over time in different geographical areas. 
• Contractually, it’s important to build in protection for your business. Be rigorous on jurisdiction, IP ownership, tax, liability and insurance.
• Set fixed exchange rates where possible, put financial caps on exposure and clarify exclusivity clauses early. One member recommended Wise Business as a good option to set up a multi-currency or international account.
• Successful international expansion also depends on clearly understanding what makes your business distinctive and how to translate that for new markets. One member combined experienced senior team members with locally embedded expertise to merge local governance and culture with the original company ethos and provide continuity. 

Client relationships

• Relationships are as fundamental to success internationally as they are at home. One member noted that while the client-side internal teams often change, they as consultants remained the constant – building trust over many years.
• Investing early in face-to-face time – whether short European trips or longer stays further afield – often saves time and cost later and accelerates building trust.
• Sending the people actually working on the project, not just senior leadership, builds stronger client relationships and develops international experience within your own teams.
• Immersion in the location, team and culture of your client is key to building the best relationships. One member shared the value of sending a trio of strategy, design and client services to work alongside the client – gaining critical insight that can’t be replicated remotely. 
• Being respectful of people’s timezones and public holidays builds trust. Clear communication boundaries can turn differences into advantages – clients often value progress happening while they sleep.
• Cultural sensitivity, language choices and even spelling conventions all signal respect and professionalism.
• Many international opportunities require patience – relationships, trust and commercial returns are often built over the long term rather than through quick wins.