IIDA Leaders Breakfast (Leaders) is an annual international event series hosted by eight local IIDA chapters with the support of IIDA Headquarters, international benefactor MillerKnoll, and media partner Interior Design.

Leaders events celebrate design’s importance in the global marketplace by honoring the people who are both the legacy and future of design. Each event features a renowned keynote speaker who enlightens, provokes, and encourages new ideas, and a celebration recognizing one local honoree who has made significant contributions to the design industry.

2023 Leaders Breakfast Events:

Chicago | December 8, 2023

Keynote Speaker:
LaToya Ruby Frazier
Award-Winning Photographer | Associate Professor of Photography - The School of The Art Institute of Chicago | MacArthur Genius

LaToya Ruby Frazier is a MacArthur “Genius” Fellow and award-winning photographer. Her work includes Flint is Family, a photo essay and book that chronicles the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and The Notion of Family, her award-winning first book on environmental racism in her hometown. Her work is displayed in many museums globally, including The Museum of Modern Art and the Library of Congress in Washington.

Event Program:
7:00 am: Coffee Reception and Networking
8:00 am: Breakfast, Opening Remarks
8:30 am: Leadership Award of Excellence Presentation and Emerging Leader Presentation
9:00 am: Keynote Speaker Presentation
9:45 am: Q&A with IIDA Executive Vice President and CEO, Cheryl S. Durst, Hon. FIIDA, LEED AP
10:00 am: IIDA Closing Remarks and Event Concludes

Award of Excellence Honoree:
Jennifer Sobecki, Ind. IIDA
Chief Executive Officer, Designs For Dignity

Founded in 2000, Designs for Dignity provides pro bono design services to nonprofit organizations and leverages the design industry to provide preferred pricing and donated furnishings, fixtures and materials which are redeployed through impact grants. During her 23-year tenure Jennifer has overseen the growth trajectory of the organization – with the expansion of project capacity and warehousing of in-kind donations to nearly quadrupling the operating budget since its founding. Designs for Dignity has completed over 265 projects totaling 1.5 million SF of space, and deployed more than $18 million dollars in donated materials, furnishings and finishes to a variety of nonprofit organizations serving greater Chicago’s most vulnerable. The Harbour Project received a 2023 RED Award for the Philanthropy category.

Jennifer has participated in panel discussions and programs focused on Trauma Informed Design alongside project grantees. Jennifer was nominated as a notable LGBTQ executive by Crain’s Chicago in both 2019 and 2020. She was named Designer of the Year by Interiors + Sources Magazine in 2020 which also marked the organization’s 20th anniversary.

Emerging Leader Honoree:
Jill Dexter, IIDA
Associate | Interior Designer, Stantec

Jill Dexter is a Registered Interior Designer at Stantec with over 13 years of experience in corporate interiors, retail, mixed-use, and civic design. She is passionate about creating experiential spaces that connect users to their environment. Acting as a conduit for bringing the client’s vision to life, Jill appreciates a holistic approach to a project and enjoys participating in projects from concept through construction administration.

Jill knows that design is compelling, so she has spent many years volunteering with the IIDA Illinois Board, most recently serving as 2022-2023 Board President and currently sits as the Immediate Past President to the board. She is an advocate for introducing design to students at a young age and recently participated as a reviewer for the 2023 class of IIDA’s Design Your World in Chicago. In addition, she has been tapped by IIDA HQ to join the Advocacy Advisory Council and is excited about serving in this role over the next two years. At work, Jill was invited to participate in Stantec’s Healthy Materials Council and gladly accepted the opportunity, most recently writing a grant for internal R&D that was awarded financing, continuing advocacy for healthier practices for clients, end-users, practitioners, and the planet.

Los Angeles | November 10, 2023

Keynote Speaker:
LaToya Ruby Frazier
Award-Winning Photographer | Associate Professor of Photography - The School of The Art Institute of Chicago | MacArthur Genius

LaToya Ruby Frazier is a MacArthur “Genius” Fellow and award-winning photographer. Her work includes Flint is Family, a photo essay and book that chronicles the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and The Notion of Family, her award-winning first book on environmental racism in her hometown. Her work is displayed in many museums globally, including The Museum of Modern Art and the Library of Congress in Washington.

Event Program:
7:00 am: Coffee Reception and Networking
8:00 am: Breakfast, Opening Remarks and Award of Excellence Honoree Presentation
9:00 am: Keynote Speaker Presentation
10:00 am: IIDA Closing Remarks and Event Concludes

Award of Excellence Honoree:
Rose Tourje
Founder and President, ANEW

After a successful and longstanding career in the commercial interior design industry, Tourje’s world was forever changed while viewing furniture being dumped into landfill – the year was 2005 and on Earth Day that year she founded the non-profit, ANEW. Since that day Tourje and her team at ANEW have diverted more than 4 million pounds of product from landfill by matching surplus items to over 3,000 non-profit organizations in more than 20 countries around the world. In 2023 Tourje was named by Metropolis magazine as a ‘Superstar of Salvage’ and continues to advocate for her trademark movement, ‘doing what’s right with what’s left’.

Atlanta | October 27, 2023

Keynote Speaker:
Donna Dennis

Donna Dennis is one of the leading Set Decorators in Atlanta’s Film/TV industry. With over 30 years in design and over 40 film/TV projects under her belt, she brings a comprehensive and sophisticated approach to each and every project. She attributes her strong faith in God, unique design aesthetic, attention to detail and cultivation of an authentic team dynamic to her career success.

Event Program:
7:00 am: Coffee Reception and Networking
8:00 am: Sit Down Breakfast, Opening Remarks, Leadership Award of Excellence
9:00 am: Keynote Presentation
10:00 am: IIDA Closing Remarks and Event Conclusion

Award of Excellence Honoree:
Chris Heard
Managing Principal, Hendrick, Inc.

Heard brings over 35 years of design experience in virtually all market segments. His project experience ranges from high-end corporate office to institutional facilities. Heard's dedication to client satisfaction, attention to design details, and superior project management has established his superb reputation in the architectural and interior design community. Heard has been an integral member of the Hendrick team for 25 + years. He became a principal of the firm in 2001 and has championed the design standards and quality of the firm; focusing on client service, superior and highly creative design solutions, as well as collaborative and innovative teamwork.

Heard's perpetual professionalism and devotion to establishing, fostering, and sustaining long-term client relationships have helped to propel Hendrick’s success. Heard believes each client and each project is unique, there are no one size fits all design prototypes; this belief drives his commitment to producing inspirational, definitive, and progressive designs.

Heard is a Member of the Georgia Minority Supplier Diversity Council (GMSDC), and Regional Member of the National Minority Supplier Diversity Council (NMSDC), as well as a Member of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID). Heard has also been a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) since 2015. His energy and creativity gets recharged through travel, cooking, and inspiring others to grow. His own experience is a journey that he shares so that everyone knows that anything is possible.

Dallas | October 20, 2023

Keynote Speaker:
Minda Harts
Best Selling Author and CEO, The Memo LLC

Minda Harts is the bestselling and award- winning author of The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table as well as Right Within: How to Heal from Racial Trauma in the Workplace, and her first YA book, You Are More Than Magic. Harts is a highly sought- after speaker and thought leader, frequently presenting on the topics of advancing women of color, leadership, diversity, and management. Harts is an Assistant Professor of Public Service at NYU's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and the founder of The Memo LLC, a career development company. In 2020, Minda was named by LinkedIn as the #1 Top Voice for Equity in the Workplace. In 2022, she was named by Business Insider as one of the top 100 People Transforming Business. Additionally, Minda was chosen by Marie Claire Magazine in 2022 to participate in Power Trip, a gathering of the year’s Top Women Movers and Shakers. She has a weekly career podcast for women of color titled Secure the Seat.

Event Program:
7:00 am: Coffee Reception and Networking
8:00 am: Breakfast, Opening Remarks and Award of Excellence Honoree Presentation
9:00 am: Keynote Speaker Presentation
9:45 am: Closing Remarks
10:00 am: Event Concludes

Award of Excellence Honoree:
Ana Pinto-Alexander, FIIDA
Global Sector Director, Interiors | Principal and Senior Vice President, HKS Inc.

A highly recognized and featured designer, Ana has more than 38 years of experience designing interiors for the country’s most progressive facilities. Her extensive research anchors her belief that the environments where we live, work, and play greatly reflect and affect who we are as individuals. Those foundational beliefs were shaped by her childhood in Colombia, South America and enhanced by extensive international travel that influences her unique design perspective. For 10 years she was President of Maregatti Interiors, a 22-employee interior design firm acquired by HKS in 2011. Although most of her work has been in health care interiors, Ana is also passionate about meaningful interior design for educational facilities. Ana has juried Healthcare Design magazine’s Architectural Showcase and Contract magazine’s Healthcare Environment Awards. She has spoken around the world on the importance the built environment has on the way we live. The recipient of numerous awards, including the 2013 “Legends IN Design,” she has also been featured in several national publications, including a cover story for Interiors and Sources.

In 2014, she received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Purdue University. In 2019, she was recognized by Healthcare Design as one of the 25 most influential people in health care. Interior Design Magazine selected Ana to receive the Healthcare HiP award in 2020. She is serving on the international board of IIDA. Ana recently received the Women in Business award from the Dallas Business Journal. Because of her approach to design, business acumen and her professional accolades, Ana was recently appointed to the Executive Committee/Board of Directors at HKS, one of only two women to have achieved this level of professional recognition.

San Francisco | September 8, 2023

Keynote Speaker:
Sloan Leo (They/He)
CEO and Lead Facilitator, FLOX Studio

They are the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of FLOX Studio. FLOX is a community design and strategy studio that supports mission-driven organizations to animate the practice of their values. Using facilitation, FLOX Studio engages innovative social impact leaders to collaboratively design their culture, strategy, and organizational development efforts. Rooted in black feminist theory, Afrofuturism, and social justice, FLOX is on a mission to improve the embodied experience of social impact workers and the institutional communities they comprise. Appointed the inaugural Designer-in-Residence at the School of Visual Arts Design for Social Innovation Master’s program, Leo has over 15 years of experience with social impact management and community design.

Event Program:
7:00 am: Coffee Reception and Networking
8:00 am: Breakfast, Opening Remarks and Award of Excellence Honoree Presentation
9:00 am: Keynote Speaker
9:45 am: Closing Remarks
10:00 am: Event Concludes

Award of Excellence Honoree:
Joan Price
Retired, Gensler

With nearly three decades of impactful contributions to Bay Area architecture and design, Joan Price is renowned for her unmatched ability to foster relationships and connect with clients. While not an architect or designer herself, she made significant strides during her 20-year tenure at Gensler, becoming the firm's first Director of Business Development and co-managing the San Francisco office. Joan's achievements include establishing Gensler's Client Advisory Council and spearheading Design Forecast Live, a global industry event. Honored with the Walter Hunt One-Firm Firm Award, she played a pivotal role in shaping Gensler's integrated practice worldwide. Joan's community involvement includes co-founding the CoreNet Apprentice program and serving on boards, all while mentoring and inspiring emerging professionals. Now retired, Joan resides in Berkeley, CA with her husband and two dachshunds.

Houston | August 18, 2023

Keynote Speaker:
Maria Brito
Award-winning contemporary Art Advisor, Author & Curator, and Author of How Creativity Rules the World

Brito knows the business of creativity inside-out. After a successful career as a corporate attorney, in 2009 she launched and grew a seven-figure art advisory. Since then, she’s worked with some of the world’s top artists, including Chinese activist Ai Weiwei and incognito street sensation Banksy. She has also advised hip-hop moguls, Oscar® winning actors. Tony® winning producers, CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and many more.

As a proud Latina, Venezuelan immigrant and Harvard graduate, Maria is passionate about sharing her first-hand studies of more than 450 artists from a variety of cultures and adding perspective and diversity to one of the most important topics today: creativity in business. She shares her inspiration and advice weekly to 175,000 social media followers and on her newsletter and blog, The Groove.

Event Program:
7:00 am: Coffee Reception and Networking
8:00 am: Breakfast, Opening Remarks and Award of Excellence Honoree Presentation
9:00 am: Keynote Speaker
9:45 am: Closing Remarks
10:00 am: Event Concludes

Award of Excellence Honoree:
Kristin Ledet, IIDA
Principal and Houston Office Practice Leader
CannonDesign

Kristin shapes the business growth, trajectory, and service diversification for the office, all while managing the people who make the Houston office one of the most dynamic design hubs in Texas. During the past 20 years, Kristin has managed and led design specifications for over 4+ million square feet of large healthcare projects with an emphasis on cancer care, pediatrics, community hospitals and academic health campuses, both nationally and internationally. An Interior designer, Kristin has always had a deep affinity for healthcare, and she works hard to merge the complex functional requirements of the industry with empathy, compassion, and wellness.

She believes hospitals and health facilities shouldn’t be places we fear visiting. Instead, they should be energetic, full of color and experiential—all attributes she infuses into every environment she designs. Her work has amassed numerous awards for design excellence, and her leadership was recognized with a 40 under 40 award from Building Design+Construction.

New York | May 11, 2023

Co-presented by the IIDA New York Chapter and IIDA Headquarters, the 2023 New York Leaders Breakfast event is one of the largest events of the year for the New York design community. This year the event was hosted at the iconic New York landmark, Chelsea Piers and it was a stunning backdrop for a morning of thought-provoking conversations and a celebration of design excellence.

Vancouver | April 13, 2023

Co-presented by the Interior Designers of Canada (IDC) and the International Interior Design Association (IIDA), the 2023 Vancouver Leaders Breakfast was hosted at the beautiful ocean-view Pan Pacific Vancouver hotel and was the perfect backdrop to celebrate design and gather for a morning of community and thought-provoking conversations.

2022 Leaders Breakfast Events:

New York | May 12, 2022

Learn more

New York Leaders Breakfast 2022 Honoree: Jennifer Graham, IIDA, LEEP AP.

Houston | August 26, 2022

Houston Leaders Breakfast 2022 Honoree: Stephanie Burritt, IIDA.

San Francisco | September 9, 2022

Toronto | September 19, 2022

Los Angeles | October 7, 2022

Dallas | October 21, 2022

Atlanta | October 27, 2022

Chicago | December 9, 2022

Chicago Leaders Breakfast 2022 Honoree: Jim Prendergast, IIDA.

Leadership Award of Excellence

Presentation of the Leadership Award of Excellence is the signature activity at every Leaders event. This award recognizes an honoree, typically a member of the local design community, for their exemplary leadership within the profession of commercial interior design and architecture or a non-practitioner for outstanding contributions to the profession. Honorees are presented with the iconic Eames stool, customized in Leaders Breakfast red, to commemorate their achievements.

Honorees are selected for their achievements recognized by IIDA that have advanced the interior design profession, have a history of conscientious and ethical behavior with colleagues, clients, and others in business interactions, and have been recognized within their local professional design community. Honorees have a strong connection to IIDA and reinforce the Association’s significance in the design community.

History

Launched in New York in 1989 by Jeannie Bochette of Steelcase, the IIDA Leaders Breakfast series began as a single event. The goal was to introduce IIDA to the business world as a leading association of commercial interior design and to inform IIDA members about the major issues affecting them and the industry. The event established a forum where members and their clients could participate and network with their peers.

Since expanding to Toronto with the help of the Interior Designers of Canada (IDC) in 2007, and through the support of international benefactor MillerKnoll and media partner Interior Design, Leaders Breakfast has become an annual international event series that celebrates design's importance in the global marketplace.