Our production team has been busy reviewing the 100+ speaker submissions! Thanks to everyone who submitted. Submissions were from a very diverse group that consisted of more women than men — for the first time in DCC history! Choosing was especially difficult this year! The best kind of difficult.
After reviewing and talking through the list as a team, we’ve been reaching out to speakers who stood out as experts, keeping diversity, representation, and message at the center. The final list has us dancing like babies.
We hope you’re excited, too! We’ve got more big announcements around the corner, so watch this space and grab your DCC18 ticket today. Early-bird pricing is available until the end of March.
In addition to Jennifer Jeffrey, Kat Holmes, Sara Wachter-Boettcher, Steve Fisher, Yesenia Perez-Cruz, and our two MCs, Stevie Thuy Anh Nguyen and Geoffrey Daniel, here are seven new faces that we’re thrilled to announce:
Gagan Diesh
Director of User Experience, DesignStamp
Armed with an innate curiosity and a love for creating engaging experiences, Gagan has taught and practiced design for over 17 years. He founded a studio called DesignStamp in 2001, shortly after the insanity of the dot-com bubble. His expertise lies in being an effective translator, helping customers, businesses and technologists find what each needs to thrive and co-exist in peace. Gagan helped develop the Digital Design program at VFS and is now an external examiner, mentoring students on their graduate projects.
When not geeking out about good or bad interaction design, Gagan can be found travelling the world searching for great food experiences.
Lauren Isaacson
Research Consultant, Curio Research
Lauren Isaacson is a market and user experience research consultant in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Before striking out on her own, Lauren worked on research, analysis, and strategy projects for Nissan and Infiniti Motors, Microsoft, eHarmony, and other business-to-business and non-profit organizations, helping them understand their customers better.
Now she does the same for companies like Facebook, CBS Interactive, Google, Lucky Brand clothing, and more.
Paige Maguire
Design Director, Fjord
Paige is a user experience and content design lead with over 15 years of experience in digital product creation and service design.
She received her undergraduate education at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland, focused on Classical Mathematics and Philosophy. She attended law school in Boston, then returned to her home state of Texas to begin her career in — naturally — digital.
Paul McAleer
Associate Experience Director, Rightpoint
Paul has 33 years of experience in technology and design. His initial focus in developing high-quality websites uncovered a passion for creating thoughtful interfaces and defining holistic strategies and experiences for people, nonprofits, and companies. Paul built the UX practice at Gogo and has helped other organizations plan and staff for effective design work. His clients include Orbitz, Expedia, UnitedHealthcare, and Stanford Hospital & Clinics.
In his current work, Paul uses design as a tool to make things simple. As an Associate Experience Director at Rightpoint, he creates apps, websites, and strategies that center users' needs. Paul is an advocate for diversity, inclusion, and equality in the digital design field.
A Chicago native, Paul lives with family in beautiful Denver, Colorado.
Saadia Muzaffar
Founder, TechGirls Canada
Saadia Muzaffar is a Leadership Futurist, tech entrepreneur, and founder of TechGirls Canada, the hub for Canadian women in science, technology, engineering, and math. Her work explores big ideas and impactful strategies that address growing challenges for business leaders in today's connected & vigilant markets.
Saadia is an author, speaker, and international media advocate on modern leadership and has been featured in CNNMoney, Fortune Magazine, Globe & Mail, VICE, CBC, TVO, and Chatelaine. Recently Saadia and her team released Change Together: A Diversity Guidebook for Startups and Scaleups
Sara Getz
Content Strategist, Facebook
Sara Getz has spent the past few years at Facebook learning about the unique needs of users in emerging markets and creating content experiences that help solve some of their pressing needs. Last year she helped launch a profile safety feature for women in India after various trips to the country exploring the digital concerns of women there.
Stephanie Hobson
Senior Front-End Developer, Mozilla
After abandoning a her desire to be a writer and English teacher for the more lucrative world of web development Stephanie discovered websites require a lot of writing.
She’s currently combining her passion for front-end development and writing by working on Mozilla’s web documentation site, MDN. Outside of accessibility she is also passionate about web standards, progressive enhancement, analytics and performance.