Speaker Bio

Chris Conley

Chris Conley is a founding partner of Gravity Tank and is a professor of design at the Institute of Design (ID) in Chicago. He has over fifteen years of experience teaching design and helping some of the world's most influential companies change the way they define and develop new offerings. Core to that change is a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach that makes extensive use of prototyping. At the Institute of Design, he educates a new kind of design professional - one that can work throughout the modern organization leading initiatives aimed at innovation and delivering results to the bottom line. At Gravity Tank, Chris has helped companies like Office Max, Unilever, Goodyear, and Samsung work differently to define and launch successful new products and services. Recently he became the first design advisor to the CEO of Samsung Telecommunications on how to broaden the impact of design expertise throughout their organization.

Chris holds a Master of Science of Design from ID and a mechanical engineering degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology. Chris is a regular contributor to design conferences and competitions worldwide and was the 2006 Chair of the IDEA BusinessWeek Awards. He lives in Chicago with his wife Cira, who is a partner in Gravity Tank, and two children who only work there on a part time basis.