Seeking inspiration in the most remote places, Eileen does extensive trekking and hiking all over the world. She enjoys exploring the influence that natural systems can have on design, and the stories they might evoke.
How does this relate to brand? Creating a sense of place where people can have an experience that resonates and is relevant to them is very important to Eileen. The built world provides a sincere opportunity to engage and connect people. Through the arrangement of the environment and the movement from one space to another, Eileen’s purpose is to create places where people have an experience that is personal, meaningful and relevant to them – places where values, culture and vision come to life, and connect us all.
Eileen’s ambition comes full circle. In addition to designing world-class branded environments, she serves on various University boards, keen on doing her part to teach and connect with future generations of design professionals. She believes in the importance of learning from each other, and in the intersection of wisdom and new ideas. As the world continues to evolve, so must we.
William Peace is founder and principal of Peace Design. A visionary with a love of architecture, respect for form and function, and fascination with light, he’s committed to working collaboratively with clients, closely with his design team, and alongside with architects and builders to achieve the distinct and diverse environments for which the firm is known.
Peace is the recipient of numerous national and regional awards, including the prestigious National ASID project award for residential interiors, and he is a multiple recipient of the Atlanta Decorative Arts Center’s Southeast Designer of the Year. His commitment to education led Peace to serve on the Board of Trustees of the Smithsonian-affiliated Museum of Design and he sits on the Advisory Board for the College of Design at the University of Kentucky – his alma mater. The College honored his involvement with the opening of the Peace Gallery in 2010, and bestowed to him the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2015. Peace is a member of ASID, ICAA, and the Soane Foundation, and his most recent accolades include the 2016 ASID Design Achievement Award as well as multiple 2017 Gold awards for residential work.
Peace studied architecture, interior design, and fine arts at the University of Kentucky earning a BA in Interior Design.
Chris Estes is the director for EOP’s interior design studio and is managing principal of the Louisville office. His focus is on ensuring the firm’s design commitment is executed appropriately with respect to the interior environment. Chris’s diverse and prominent list of clients includes corporate firms, retail outlets, academic institutions, non-profit organizations as well as government and cultural organizations.
Darcy Everett is the Sustainability Manager at the College of Charleston. She has more than 10 years of experience embedding sustainability into local government, small business and higher education organizations. Driven by the interconnections that exist within sustainability, Darcy focuses her work on creating a more prosperous future for both the planet and its people. She received her Masters of Arts in Global Sustainability from the University of South Florida, and also attended the Ecosa Institute of Prescott College where she received her ecological design certificate. Darcy was born and raised in Lexington, KY and is a University of Kentucky alumni, graduating with her Bachelors of Arts in Interior Design in 2006.
David MacConnie leads the creative visual merchandising organization for Hallmark Cards, Inc., driving the strategic creative development of in-store consumer experiences for all Hallmark retailers and Hallmark Gold Crown stores. This includes the development and implementation of visual merchandising creative strategies to deliver unique shopping experiences for the full portfolio of Hallmark stores and departments. Organizational creative development and capabilities include retail design, visual merchandising, in-store program activation, and brand among the end-to-end spectrum. He leads a highly creative, multi-disciplined organization that functions as a strategic partner to key retailers across the US and the Hallmark Global network.
Prior to joining Hallmark in 2010, David has had extensive visual merchandising industry experience including leadership roles with several other key brands including The Coca-Cola Company and Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. David graduated with a BA in Interior Design from the University of Kentucky.
Kurt is a brand champion who strives to create a cohesive experience for our customers. As Global Brand Director, he leads the strategic alignment of the Haworth brand across sectors and among subsidiaries. Kurt builds relationships among the architecture and design community, as well as Haworth customers and dealers, to keep abreast of customer needs and trends, while seeking new partners to complement the brand. With more than thirty years in the industry, and experience in all facets of the business, Kurt serves as a conduit for connecting the brand, marketing, and design functions of the organization—with the goal of bringing value to Haworth’s customers.
Kurt holds a degree in Marketing from Davenport University and a Master of Business Administration from Western Michigan University. He has completed project management training at the University of Colorado and studied at the Center for Creative Studies in Tampa, Florida. Kurt is a member of American Institute of Architects and the International Interior Design Association. He is also an accomplished concert pianist.
As a Design Project Lead, Sally Unger brings a high level of progressive design to a broad range of project types and sizes. She approaches projects with a strong attention to detail, utilizing her creativity, curiosity, and technical knowledge across all phases of the design process. Sally’s background in hospitality, workplace, and high-end residential design has shaped her cohesive, curated design approach.
Sally has over 12 years of design experience, leading and designing a wide variety of projects: resorts in Walt Disney World, amenities for the tallest tower in the world, the largest Starbucks in the world, multiple corporate headquarters, and most recently, a world-class coworking product for CBRE in Hana. Sally draws inspiration from her love of travel and brings a global view of cutting-edge design trends and innovations. She loves the connection with people that design provides and strives to improve her clients’ quality of life through her work.
Prior to joining CBRE, Sally was an interior designer at Perkins + Will, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, and an Imagineer at The Walt Disney Company.
Jack is a design leader and a Senior Vice President at Gresham Smith specializing in design, research and consulting to develop new innovative workplaces for clients. Jack spends most of the time as a project executive, workplace strategist and firmwide design leader, bringing over 30 years of experience at creating value for businesses through the design of inspirational work environments that reflect the clients organizational culture and vision. Jack has worked with clients such as the AFL-CIO, Amazon, Deloitte, Asurion, Cracker Barrel, Dollar General, Exxon Mobil, GSA, Geodis, Jackson National Life, LifeWay, Louisiana Pacific, Nissan, Schneider Electric, State of Tennessee, TVA and the US Army Corps of Engineers. Jack works in all phases of design from strategic/master planning, workplace strategy, programming, schematic and prototype design, project management, branded environments, product design and marketing.
Jack continues to work with both small and large clients at developing integrated design solutions that maximize employee mobility, engagement and productivity while increasing real estate efficiencies for their organizations. Jack’s passion is centered around the ever changing workplace, and how organizations can build a new workplace platform that allows employees to thrive.
Jack speaks regularly to internal client groups, CoreNet, IIDA, IFMA, NAIOP and other industry audiences about the strategies for new ways working.
35+ years at “loving what I do”
Lu Ann Holmes has over 15 years as a designer/project manager/sales at Steelcase dealers in Marietta OH, Chicago, and Pittsburgh. She retired in 2013 from Haworth after 20 years with A/D and field sales responsibilities, and was recognized with the Pinnacle Award. During her time with Haworth, she supported A/D school programs and served as a liaison to related professional organizations throughout Pittsburgh and Cincinnati/Dayton market areas.
Lu Ann is a strong supporter of the University of Kentucky serving on the School of Interiors Alumni Advisory Board as a Legacy Member, supporting the interior design scholarship and Women in Philanthropy programs, and is the College of Design representative to the UK Alumni Association (UKAA). She served on the National Board of Directors (2012-2020), was named the 2010 Friend of the College of Design, received the UKAA Distinguished Alumni Service Award Recipient 2015, NKY/GC UK Alumni Club President/Board Member, UK Fellow, Life Member UKAA, UKAA Leadership Advisory Council (2021).
Lu Ann has also been a committed member of ASID. She joined the organization in 1976 as a student member at UK and continued as both professional and industry partner members. She additionally served as the Pittsburgh Chapter President and on the National Board.
Cindy Allen is widely lauded as one of the most influential advocates for the interior design profession. With almost two decades as editor in chief of Interior Design, Allen champions the industry, promoting both the giants of design and its rising stars.
A self-proclaimed design junkie, she brings an unbridled passion for design that is manifested through 18 print issues each year, a digital platform reaching a global audience of over 9 million, and a robust events platform. With Allen’s direction, Interior Design is constantly evolving to best celebrate designers and their process.
Allen has published ten books on design, with the latest edition covering a decade of the industry’s best. An early adopter of alternate platforms to share Interior Design’s content, she has also made over 90 short documentaries on industry icons including Kengo Kuma, David Rockwell, India Mahdavi, Isay Weinfeld, and Paola Navone.
In 2020, SANDOW Design Group brands Interior Design, Metropolis and Luxe Interiors + Design, collaborated to introduce DesignTV by SANDOW, offering daily programming for the design industry. In the first year, viewership for the channel soared: 9M+ video views, 40M+ impressions. 250+ programs were produced. Allen, the key on-air personality for Interior Design’s channels, has been credited by multiple A+D guests as being the “optimism of the industry” and “the glue that keeps us together.”
Allen is also the exclusive host of Interior Design’s DesignBiz series on Instagram Live – a series of conversations between Cindy Allen and talent throughout the design industry. Through intimate, un-cut, LIVE conversations, Allen gets to the heart of what’s going on in the design industry and in the lives of designers across the globe. Each of the 150+ episodes offers authentic, thought-provoking design information and inspiration.
Allen received an Honorary Doctorate from the New York School of Interior Design in 2010 and from the San Francisco Academy of Art in 2012. She is a recipient of the 2009 Alpha Award by Alpha Workshops, the 2010 Circle of Excellence Award from IFDA, the 2014 Open House New York Honoree Award, the 2015 Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation’s Scroll Award, the 2019 AIA Stephen A. Kliment Oculus Award, and honored 2020 LongHouse Winter Benefit. She has served as juror for the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Awards and the Gensler Design Excellence Awards, among others, and is a board member for the Alpha Workshops. Allen is chairman of the national board of DIFFA (Design Industries Foundation Fighting Aids), where she is committed to helping those in need and galvanizing the design community to push the boundaries of what is possible.
Headquartered in the Kentucky market, leveraging the global insight and expertise of Herman Miller inspiring spaces to Work, Learn and Heal. Jordan leads collaboration with Clients, Architects, and Designers to create a space that engages, inspires, and responds to the changing needs of the workplace experience. Combining 12+ years of technical design and organizational leadership experience to implement a strategic approach to goals supporting People, Place and Purpose. She focuses on Corporate, Education, Government, Healthcare, and Hospitality markets.
Melynda Price is the William L. Matthews, Jr. Professor of Law and the John and Joan Gaines Professor of Humanities. Since 2018, she has been the Director of the Gaines Center for the Humanities. The Gaines Center is devoted to cultivating an appreciation of the humanities among students and faculty and embraces varied paths of knowledge. In 2017, she was named University Research Professor, which is awarded by the University of Kentucky to faculty for outstanding research achievements. From 2012 to 2017, Professor Price was the Director of the African American and Africana Studies Program in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is an affiliated faculty member in the African American and Africana Studies Program and the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies. Professor Price is the author of At the Cross: Race, Religion and Citizenship in the Politics of the Death Penalty (Oxford University Press, 2015). Her work has been published in both peer-reviewed social science and law journal, newspapers and literary journals. In addition to her published research, she is a member of the UNITed in Racial Equity (UNITE) Research Priority Advisory Board and has served as a panel reviewer for multiple national research foundations. Professor Price joined the UK College of Law as an Assistant Professor in the fall of 2006 after completing the doctorate degree in Political Science from the University of Michigan. Her dissertation was awarded the 2007 Best Dissertation Award from the Race, Ethnicity and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association. In addition to her degree in political science, she also earned a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law in 2002. While at the University of Texas, she was a member of the Texas International Law Journal and was awarded both the University of Texas Coop Award for Public Interest Law and the Baron and Budd Scholarship for Public Interest Law. She completed her undergraduate studies in Physics at Prairie View A&M University in 1995. Professor Price’s research focuses on race, gender and citizenship, the politics of punishment and the role of law in the politics of race and ethnicity in the U.S. and at its borders. In 2008, she was awarded a Ford Foundation Diversity Postdoctoral Fellowship. Her host institution was the Capital Punishment Center at the University of Texas School of Law. She was a 2016-2017 fellow in the Law and Public Affairs Program at Princeton University.
