Ann has a rich 30-year career in commercial lighting, specializing in Lighting Design and LED Lighting Fixture Design. As a Chicagoan, Ann's local Lighting Design resume includes notable projects such as The Museum of Contemporary Art, Millenium Park, Harold Washington Library, Bally's Casino, and O'Hare Hilton. Ann also established her own company designing and manufacturing LED Lighting Fixtures resulting in multiple design patents and fixture design awards including Best New Product of the Year. As Design Director, she now leads the Chicago office for HLB Lighting Design, which is the largest lighting design firm in the world.

Claudia Barrett is a Designer in HLB Lighting Design’s Chicago studio, where her work bridges architectural rigor with a deeply artistic approach to light. With her experience in lighting design and a foundation in architecture, Claudia brings a hybrid perspective shaped by experience and curiosity. Her design sensibility is informed by early training in stage lighting, a passion for art, and an appreciation for daylight’s role in shaping architecture. Her project work spans hospitality, workplace environments, and large atrium spaces, including complex projects in the U.S. and abroad.

An active member of the Illuminating Engineering Society and Women in Lighting Design–Chicago, Claudia is passionate about creating architectural environments that echo the human experience of natural environments through carefully considered electric light.

Rex Miller is a futurist, author, and keynote speaker with more than 4 decades of experience in the architecture, design, construction, and workplace industries. He helps leaders navigate uncertainty when old playbooks no longer apply, turning friction, resistance, and complexity into momentum. Drawing from neuroscience, strengths psychology, and real-world project experience, Rex equips organizations to lead change with clarity, trust, and resilience. He hosts the industry podcast, The Resilience Lab, and is the author of five industry books, earning three industry awards.

As a design principal for the Los Angeles office, Susan leads the vision, strategy, and growth for the Interiors practice supporting LA and the West Region. With over 25 years of experience, her leadership has fueled award-winning projects in Health, Workplace, and Life Science markets. Susan's commitment to excellence ensures the consistent delivery of quality design, innovative solutions, and unparalleled client service. Passionate about sustainable and equitably designed environments, she strives to create spaces that inspire and contribute to overall occupant well-being. Susan's expertise lies in weaving creativity and functionality, elevating HDR's interiors practice to new heights in the pursuit of transformative design.

Ruby has more than 20 years of experience as interior designer with a proven track record of successfully developing and implementing interior design requirements which exceed client’s expectations. She is known for her energy, passion, and genuine concern for her projects and clients. As an interior designer, she works in collaboration with the project team in the design and selection of interior finishes along with furniture and fixtures to establish a desired aesthetic while assuring project budget and goals are maintained. Ruby’s experience covers a wide range of building typologies, including public spaces, healthcare, civic and federal.

Heather is an interior designer who has worked on a variety of building types, including science and technology, higher education, government and healthcare facilities. A detail-oriented leader, she enjoys cross-disciplinary collaboration on all aspects of a project from schematic planning and design to documentation and construction administration. Her primary design inspiration is the built environment and its effect on the user through color, material, texture and light.

As a multi-faceted senior interior designer, Ashley has an agility and adeptness for understanding complex programs and project types. Motivated by relationships and discovery, she strives to create highly intuitive and efficient environments that promote her client's business goals and support tailored, unique design outcomes. Her expertise spans both new construction and renovation projects and includes programming, planning, concept development, construction documentation and finish and furniture specification. Ashley takes pride in designing organized, innovative and beautiful spaces that foster ownership, interaction and creativity.

Kathryn Nicholson Brown is Specification Director at Bureau with over 20 years of experience working alongside architects and designers across commercial interiors. A WELL Accredited Professional, she focuses on neuroinclusive, human centred environments and the relationship between space, focus, and wellbeing. Her work centres on specification strategy and real-world delivery, informed by lived experience of neurodiversity and a long career examining how built environments perform for the people who use them.

Foad Shafighi, MIES, IALD, CLD, is a Senior Lighting Designer and Lighting Design Department Lead at HGA. With an award-winning career that has taken him across three continents, he has developed a deep appreciation for how spaces shape the way people connect and interact. That global perspective is at the heart of everything he does, driving a human-centric approach to lighting design where technology serves people's well-being first.

Foad has always been drawn to the space where creativity meets technology. For him, lighting is never just a technical problem to solve. It is an experience that shapes how people feel, move, and engage with the world around them. That belief guides every project he takes on and every team he works with at HGA.

In recent years, Foad has become one of the lighting industry's most active voices on integrating AI into design practice. He founded LightingAgent.ai, a startup building an AI-native platform that reimagines how lighting designers work, giving professionals tools that make them more effective without taking the creative thinking out of their hands. Foad is also working on launching BuiltForm.ai, a platform where he plans to share his accumulated AI knowledge, workflows, articles, and insights with the broader AEC industry through approachable blog posts and practical guides for professionals curious about bringing AI into their work. As a speaker, Foad has brought his session "Illuminate and Innovate: A Workflow Revolution with AI" to conferences including IALD Enlighten Europe and IALD Enlighten Americas. His talks are hands-on and accessible. He walks audiences through real workflows using tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and Nano Banana, showing designers, interior architects, and architects exactly how to start using these tools in their own work today.

Nicholas Tedder is the Regional Design Director for Healthcare at HKS New York. With 20 years of global experience, Nicholas brings a unique perspective to the built environment, spanning hospitality, sports, entertainment, and corporate sectors.
Currently leading healthcare interiors for the Northeast, he specializes in human-centric environments that balance clinical excellence with sophisticated aesthetics. His diverse portfolio includes international stadiums and his recent leadership on the design of the largest pediatric hospital in the United States. Nicholas leverages his multi-sector expertise to deliver innovative, large-scale solutions that redefine the intersection of health, wellness, and world-class design.

Katie Chapman is Sustainability Manager at Haworth with 18 years in sustainability leadership. She leads global circular economy and circular design strategy at Haworth, guiding the integration of sustainable materials, product transparency, and responsible product end of life. She works closely with clients and the A&D community turning ambitions into operational outcomes. 
Katie contributes to BIFMA working groups and committees. She has been recognized by Crain’s Grand Rapids Business, Metropolis, and Fast Company. She moderates and participates in panels on circularity, sustainable design, and climate strategy. Katie holds a BS in Sustainable Business, Aquinas College, and maintains a Six Sigma Green Belt.