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DME Annual Meeting (PDX)
Join us for a meeting celebrating a year in review, as well as the year ahead, with updates on developing initiatives.
Join CoDesign Collaborative in Portland, OR on Tuesday, March 19, 5:30-7:30 pm for the organization’s Annual Meeting. This community event is an opportunity to celebrate this past year of programs and look ahead to 2024 projects related to inclusive design, emerging technologies, design research, and more. Meet national and Portland-based staff, board, and council members, and explore ways to get involved with our mission to inspire social change through the transformative power of design.
The event will feature a fireside chat with Ron Bronson, President of AIGA Portland, and Melissa Casburn, VP of Design at Coforma, followed by a facilitated discussion with attendees, led by Eric Corey Freed, DME Board member and Principal at CannonDesign, on design and social impact, and how the museum can best collaborate with and serve Portland’s design community.
Join fellow designers, museum members, program contributors, and community and corporate partners. Registration for the Annual Meeting is FREE and open to the public. Please register to attend, and bring a friend!
Directions
Parking: There is a parking lot with 40 available spaces at Bora Architects studio. Street parking is also available nearby.
Transit: Location is a 4-minute walk from the SE MLKing & Hawthorne Southbound stop (Stop ID: 13614).
Tuesday, March 19
5:30-7:30 pm PT
Bora Architects
1705 SE 3rd Avenue
Portland, OR 97214
SPEAKERS
Ron Bronson
President, AIGA Portland
Melissa Casburn
VP of Design, Coforma
Eric Corey Freed
Principal, CannonDesign
Ron Bronson
Ron Bronson leads digital transformation at scale in local, state & federal government. He currently serves as Director of Design at 18F, and works as a part-time lecturer at the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Outside of work, his research explores Consequence Design, a framework that examines how technology erodes civic trust in daily life.
Ron’s recent public design exhibitions include “A Parliament of Neighbors” (2023) at the Chimaera Kunsthalle and “The Designer’s Share of the Problem” (2022). Ron has presented globally at design & tech events including UXR Toronto, An Event Apart, CfA Summit, Confab, and more.
Ron currently serves as the board president of AIGA Portland. He is also a state championship winning high school tennis coach who was named 2022-23 Oregon 4A Girls State Tennis Coach of the Year. Previously, he launched Indianapolis Design Week, and served on the City of Portland Historic Landmarks Commission.
Melissa Casburn
Melissa is a seasoned design leader with 20 years of experience across a wide variety of industries and applications. Skilled in design strategy & operations as well as systems thinking, she currently serves as the VP of Design for Coforma, a DC-based agency that crafts creative solutions and builds technology products that improve people’s lives. In that role she’s excited about applied ethics, the social impact of design, and ways to build and sustain a healthy design practice. At home she’s focused on knitting, learning to paint, and earning a Surface Design certificate from Otis College of Art & Design. She lives in Portland, OR with a gentle dog and 3 finicky cats.
Eric Corey Freed
Eric Corey Freed is an award-winning architect, author, and global speaker. As Principal and Director of Sustainability for CannonDesign, he leads the healthcare, education, and commercial teams toward better and higher performing buildings for over 30 million square feet a year. For two decades, he was Founding Principal of organicARCHITECT, a visionary design leader in biophilic and regenerative design. His past roles include Vice President of the International Living Future Institute and Chief Community Officer of EcoDistricts, both nonprofits pushing innovative new paradigms for deep green buildings and communities. Eric is the author of 12 books, including “Green Building & Remodeling for Dummies” and “Circular Economy for Dummies.” In 2012, he was named one of the 25 “Best Green Architecture Firms” in the US, and one of the “Top 10 Most Influential Green Architects.” In 2017, he was named one of Build’s American Architecture Top 25. He holds a prestigious LEED Fellow award from the US Green Building Council.
