handle
top_graphic bottom_graphic
arrow Programs
Leaders Breakfast

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:


Vancouver | April 13, 2023

Learn more

1
Keynote Speaker
Cheryl S. Durst, Hon. FIIDA
Executive Vice President and CEO, IIDA
1
Award of Excellence Honoree
Carol Jones, Emeritus FIIDA, FIDC, FIDIBC
Consulting Principal to Kasian Architecture, Interior Design and Planning Ltd.

2022 Leaders Breakfast Events:


New York | May 12, 2022

Learn more

1
Award of Excellence Honoree
Jennifer Graham IIDA
Principal, Perkins&Will
1
Keynote Speaker
Leyla Acaroglu

CEO & founder, The UnSchool and Disrupt Design

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


Houston | August 26, 2022

1
Award of Excellence Honoree
Stephanie Burritt, IIDA

Principal, Managing Director of Gensler, Houston
1
Keynote Speaker
Scott Dikkers

Public Relations and Marketing Authority; Founder, The Onion

Houston Leaders Breakfast 2022 Honoree: Stephanie Burritt, IIDA.


San Francisco | September 9, 2022

1
Award of Excellence Honoree
Donald Cremers, IIDA

Senior Principal and Senior Project Interior Designer, HOK, San Francisco
1
Keynote Speaker
Jane McGonigal

World-renowned game designer and inventor

Toronto | September 19, 2022

1
Award of Excellence Honoree
Marilyn Donoghue, FIDC

Founding Member of IDC, Interior Designer
1
Keynote Speaker
Ian McCallum

Munsee language teacher and researcher, Munsee-Delaware Nation

Los Angeles | October 7, 2022

1
Award of Excellence Honoree
Barbara Bouza, IIDA, FAIA

President, Walt Disney Imagineering
1
Keynote Speaker
Ben Nemtin
New York Times Bestselling Author, Co-Founder of The Buried Life Movement and inspirational keynote speaker

Dallas | October 21, 2022

1
Award of Excellence Honoree
Art Bloodworth
, RID-Texas
Workplace Design Leader, Principal at DLR Group
1
Keynote Speaker
Michael Ford, AIA, NOMA

Founder of The Hip Hop Architecture Camp

Atlanta | October 27, 2022

1
Award of Excellence Honoree Ronnie Belizaire, FIIDA
IIDA International Board Vice President and Vice President, JLL Project & Development Services Business Unit
1
Keynote Speaker
Maria Brito

Contemporary Art Advisor, Author, Curator

Chicago | December 9, 2022

1
Award of Excellence Honoree
Jim Prendergast, IIDA, FAIA

Design Principal, Gensler
1
Keynote Speaker
Annie Jean-Baptiste

Author and Founder of the Equity Army

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.

Made possible by our International Benefactor and Media Partner: