Leaders Breakfast

Upcoming Events 2023 Recap

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 Award of Excellence Honoree who has made significant contributions to the design industry.

About the Leaders Breakfast Award of Excellence

A Leaders Breakfast History

2024 Leaders Breakfast Series

Chicago

Leadership Award of Excellence Honoree

Jennifer Cusack
CEO and Co-Founder
Corporate Concepts

Keynote Speaker

Austin Johnston
CEO, AKJOHNSTON Group
President Experiential Guild of America

Emerging Leader Honoree

Jamie Cavalier
Associate | Project Manager
Huntsman Architectural Group

Chicago Leaders Breakfast 2025, photography by Johnny Wolf Studio

Los Angeles

Leadership Award of Excellence Honoree

Vickie Kropenske
Director
Hope Street Margolis Family Center

Keynote Speaker

Vijay Gupta
Founder of Street Symphony
Co-Founder of the Skid Row Arts Alliance
MacArthur Genius

Los Angeles Leaders Breakfast 2025, photography by Chris Hatcher Photography

Dallas

Leadership Award of Excellence Honoree

Kris Walsh
Interior Design Director, Principal
Page

Keynote Speaker

Sara Williams Goldhagen, PhD
Author, Architecture Critic

Dallas Leaders Breakfast 2025, photography by Lenz Noirre Design Group

San Francisco

Leadership Award of Excellence Honoree

Brian Graham
Founder, Creative Director
Graham Design

Brian K. Graham, IIDA, Founder and Creative Director, Graham Design LLC, IIDA Northern California Chapter

Keynote Speaker

Vijay Gupta
Founder of Street Symphony
Co-Founder of the Skid Row Arts Alliance
MacArthur Genius

San Francisco Leaders Breakfast 2025, photography by Jennifer Graham Photography

Houston

Leadership Award of Excellence Honoree

Lauri Goodman Lampson, IIDA
President and CEO
PDR

Keynote Speaker

Kelli Harding
Assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University and author of The Rabbit Effect: Live Longer, Happier, and Healthier with the Groundbreaking Science of Kindness

Houston Leaders Breakfast 2025, photography by Slyworks Photography

Atlanta

Leadership Award of Excellence Honoree

Karen S. Freeman, IIDA
Principal, Pediatrics Practice Leader
HOK

Keynote Speaker

Katie Peditto, PhD
Co-Director, Human Experience Lab
Perkins&Will

Atlanta Leaders Breakfast 2025, photography by Jamagine Media

New York

Leadership Award of Excellence Honoree

Dale Alan Greenwald
Vice President, Interior Design Leader
CannonDesign

Keynote Speaker

Cassi Chandler
Motivational Leadership Expert | FBI’s First African American Female Special Agent Assistant Director

New York Leaders Breakfast 2025, photography by Johnny Wolf Studio

Previous Years

2023 Leaders Breakfast

New York
Award of Excellence Honoree | Hilda Longinotti
Keynote Speaker | Candace Doby

Houston
Award of Excellence Honoree | Kristin Ledet, IIDA
Keynote Speaker | Maria Brito

San Francisco
Award of Excellence Honoree | Joan Price
Keynote Speaker | Sloan Leo

Vancouver
Award of Excellence Honoree | Carol Jones, Emeritus FIIDA
Keynote Speaker | Cheryl S. Durst, Hon. FIIDA

Los Angeles
Award of Excellence Honoree | Rose Tourje
Keynote Speaker | LaToya Ruby Frazier

Dallas
Award of Excellence Honoree | Ana Pinto-Alexander, FIIDA
Keynote Speaker | Minda Harts

Atlanta
Award of Excellence Honoree | Chris Heard, IIDA
Keynote Speaker | Donna Dennis

Chicago
Award of Excellence Honoree | Jennifer Sobecki, Ind. IIDA
Keynote Speaker | LaToya Ruby Frazier

2022 Leaders Breakfast

New York
Award of Excellence Honoree | Jennifer Graham IIDA
Keynote Speaker | Leyla Acaroglu

Houston
Award of Excellence Honoree | Stephanie Burritt, IIDA
Keynote Speaker | Scott Dikkers

San Francisco
Award of Excellence Honoree | Donald Cremers, IIDA
Keynote Speaker | Jane McGonigal

Toronto
Award of Excellence Honoree | Marilyn Donoghue, FIDC
Keynote Speaker | Ian McCallum

Los Angeles
Award of Excellence Honoree | Barbara Bouza, IIDA, FAIA
Keynote Speaker | Ben Nemtin

Dallas
Award of Excellence Honoree | Art Bloodworth
Keynote Speaker | Michael Ford, AIA, NOMA

Atlanta
Award of Excellence Honoree | Ronnie Belizaire, FIIDA
Keynote Speaker | Maria Brito

Chicago
Award of Excellence Honoree | Jim Prendergast, IIDA, FAIA
Keynote Speaker | Annie Jean-Baptiste

The 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.

Made possible by our International Benefactor and Media Partner: