On-site Judges
Erik Borreson
With almost 20 years of design and branding experience, Erik Borreson calls Wisconsin his home. Erik has had a passion for art and design ever since his youth. Old issues of Sports Illustrated would often be cut up so he could design his own line of sports cards – and that love has turned into a career. Erik works as the Senior Designer for the Marshfield Clinic Health System and sees design as an integral part of the patient experience. His team includes members in the fields of design, photography, video and copywriting.
Very active in the design community, he has received over 150 design awards and his work has been featured in over four dozen books, magazines and other publications. Erik has been recognized for a wide array of work including print, packaging, web, mobile and app design. He has presented logos and branding to professional sports teams, written and directed television commercials, wrote and illustrated his own children’s book and now has two adorable kids.
Kira Sea
Kira Sea has a wide range of professional design experience that includes branding, print, illustration, typography, digital, advertising, book and packaging. She is especially passionate about branding and logo design. She currently works at branding firm Siegel and Gale, where she gets to design all the coolest logos she wants. Kira previously worked at Apple, Mother and Anomaly.
Clients include Apple / Google / American Express / Marriott / Converse / Hmbdlt / Johnnie walker / GroundTruth. Her latest work for Hmbdlt has won numerous awards such as Cannes Lions, D&AD, One Show and was picked as one of Time’s “The 25 Best Inventions of 2016.” She has also gained considerable exposure in magazines, books, podcasts and in exhibitions, with an emphasis on logos, posters, and illustration.
Peter von Klueger
Peter von Klueger is a seasoned branding expert, digital visual art director/ designer and photographer. He has created highly innovative, ROI driven omni channel global brand experiences and award winning brand marketing campaigns. For the past 20 years, he builds brand experiences for top tier beauty/ fashion media/ entertainment & lifestyle clients and agencies in the US and Europe. Trained in the multi-discipline Bauhaus method of art and design, Peter applies his timeless style to his conceptional and highly usable creations.
His Von Klueger Studio offers full-service and platform agnostic creative deliverables from design to commercial fashion photography, utilizing diverse skills from brand identity design, advertising, still and moving images, digital, VR/AR, online & offline, environments, and multimedia. Peter is a generalist who goes deep in the areas needed. His creative directional approach is always a cross-pollination of art, design and technology. His experiences with brands like NIVEA, Canon, and Clarins, as well as leading agencies from Ayer to Ogilvy & Mather, lead to his own impactful human centric and manifesto driven brand methodology. “BrandMeister” is defining brands as cultural movements with missions of social environmental responsibility. He has worked with celebrities from Robert Redford, Ralph Lauren to Alicia Keys, helping to build their brands and projects with a focus on human interaction for a greater good.
Currently, his Von Klueger Creative Studio located at the NeueHouse NYC, is involved in Virtual Reality projects collaborating with the Virtual Reality Cinema, VR Accelerator and Play Lab, using VR to treat mental conditions like anxiety and phobias. Also, Peter is launching his own high quality botanical oils and CBD beauty brand.
Digital Judges
Ben Rigsby
Co-Founder of SnapShot Interactive and ECOS president, Rigsby serves as the creative, strategic, and technical lead for design, motion graphics, development and product innovation. Through these disciplines, Rigsby solves his number one challenge – removing the friction out of the digital process for clients and elevating the level of what’s possible.
Rigsby received his Bachelor of Arts from Virginia Intermont College with a specialization in multimedia design and production before eventually directing the creative and operational efforts of online multimedia at cj Advertising in Nashville, TN. Rigsby then went on to co-found SnapShot Interactive, a digital agency, and later ECOSprez, an interactive presentation platform.
In addition to leading the creative and innovative efforts at SnapShot and ECOSprez, Rigsby is avid in the arts community, stemming from his dance and photography backgrounds. He works with local schools in the Nashville community to bridge the level of understanding in digital from inside the classroom to outside. When he isn’t entranced in his work, he soaks up the time enjoying life with his lovingly supportive wife Sarah, their two children and two dogs. Rigsby can be contacted through SnapShotInteractive.com.
Joseph Mayernik
At 6’4”, it’s little wonder Joe likes thinking big, creating strategic communications in all facets of advertising on a regional and national level. A song-and-dance-and-DJ man, Joe is also known as a nationally and internationally recognized Creative Director responsible for shaping brands as diverse as St. John Fisher College, BlueCross BlueShield and the Boy Scouts of America.
Since 2013, Joe has been the Czar and Creative Director of Brandtatorship, a boutique advertising agency now located in the historic High Falls district of beautiful downtown Rochester, New York. He and his team specialize in forging ideas that help companies take charge of their brand. Joe started his career almost 20 years ago at JWT in Detroit, MI where he helped grow clients like The Ford Motor Company and White Castle. From there, he traveled south to JWT Atlanta and after a couple of years enduring the sweltering heat, landed in Rochester, NY working for the McCann Worldwide subsidiary, Jay Advertising. With a stylus pen or pencil in hand, Joe’s expertise shines across a diverse field of disciplines including art direction, digital, broadcast production, illustration, and social media.
Joe is a three-year past president of the Rochester Advertising Federation (RAF), and a member of the National American Advertising Awards council board. For the last 14 years, he has been involved in every facet of the American Advertising Awards from judge, to administrator, to entrant at the local, district, and national level. He has also served as a judge for the AAF District 5 NSAC and AAF National A2 Public Service competitions.
Know this about Joe. If he likes you, he’ll draw a caricature of you. If he really likes you, he’ll make it resemble you and not the cartoon blue jay Mordecai.
Matthew Bogard
Matthew Bogard has 10+ years experience in the NYC ad agency world with deep experience in branding and design across traditional, digital & experiential media. As Creative Director at Momentum Worldwide, he concepts and launches integrated campaigns for brands like American Express, Dove, Red Lobster, among others. He loves working with brands to find creative solutions to business challenges.
Michael Ferrer
Mike made the leap back to his southern roots to join GSD&M from Portland, OR. His love for the warm and dry called him back down south. Ok and BBQ too.
He joined GSD&M in 2000 where he’s worked on AT&T, Southwest Airlines, Kohler, BMW, The American Legacy Foundation, and Caesars Palace.
Before GSD&M, Mike’s first job was as an art director for a small advertising firm of 4 people. In 7 years he helped to usher the firm to 25 people. He worked on Samuel Adams, AT&T Wireless Services, The Oregon Lottery, Make-A-Wish Foundation, and Wizards of the Coast (Creators of the world wide gaming hit, Magic: The Gathering).
After earning his BA in Art History and Design, Mike turned to the Portfolio Center where he graduated as Art Director.
Sophia Latto
Sophia develops digital strategy around building constituent relationships, delivering compelling messages and online fundraising. In addition to strategy, she also provides UX design and her award winning visual design expertise to Blackbaud clients.
Prior to joining Blackbaud in 2011, Sophia was the Creative Director for 18 years at a design and marketing agency in New York City that specialized in online advertising, marketing, and email communications for the non-profit, utility, beverage, and financial sectors. Her off-line experience includes brand development, advertising and children’s textbook design.