The Team

Professor Moura Quayle, co-founder. Moura is a design educator at the UBC Sauder School of Business who not only teaches the undergraduate d.studio class, but is also joining the MBA core professors to help integrate the concept of design thinking. Currently, she is on secondment as UBC Director of the Liu Institute for Global Issues. Moura’s interests lie in the collaborative space occupied by academia, government and business; this is the place of future opportunity and transformation. Moura’s recent experiences include leadership of the B.C. Pacific Coast Collaborative Commission, B.C. Deputy Minister of Advanced Education, Research and Innovation, Dean of UBC’s Faculty of Land and Food Systems, and Associate VP, UBC Okanagan Programs. Moura chaired Vancouver’s Urban Landscape Task Force resulting in the city’s Greenways program. She has been awarded a YMCA Woman of Distinction and an honourary Doctor of Science.

Dr. Angèle Beausoleil, sessional lecturer/adjunct professor. Angèle is a business executive turned doctoral graduate, studying the innovation process inside creative industry organizations. She brings her passion for research, design, development and commercialization of new products, services and technologies to her research and classroom projects. Angèle has spent over 20 years in both traditional and digital marketing communications, most recently working closely with Fortune 500 brands as VP Innovation and Strategy for Dare North America — the UK’s digital agency of the decade that was acquired by Cossette Communications in 2008. She is board member for the Telus Health Fund, Vancouver International Film Festival Society and Interface Digital Health Society. Angèle graduated from Canada’s first multi-media degree at Ryerson University, received a MA from UBC and completed a PhD in interdisciplinary studies at UBC. An accomplished presenter, she leads workshops and lectures on innovation, digital marketing, e-philanthropy and social media strategies in the US and Canada.

Dharini Thiruchittampalam, adjunct professor. Dharini has lived and worked on five continents, thus has gained insights essential to conducting business in an increasingly multi‐cultural and global environment where issues of the developing and developed worlds are merging. Working in a variety of private and public sector structures, ranging from design studios, to agile entrepreneurial start‐ups to governments, Dharini has a broad understanding of the complexities and shifting priorities that exist within all organizations. As an internationally qualified architect she has practiced in Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Sri Lanka, with a number of award‐ winning and leading sustainable design practices. Upon completing her Sauder MBA in 2000, she joined the business development team of a successful Vancouver‐based online brokerage start‐up. Dharini’s more recent work with the federal government in fostering partnerships between First Nation communities, industry, academia and government stakeholders has reinforced her interest in exploring the intersection between design, business and public policy and the role of integrated interdisciplinary teams in generating innovative solutions to complex challenges.

Marcelo Bravo, Ph.D student, Interdisciplinary program – ISGP (Policy and Social Innovation). Marcelo’s research looks at co-designing inter-sectoral partnerships among academia and government through knowledge mobilization processes and methods. He holds a Master in Prospective Studies and Strategy at Tec de Monterrey, MX; has experience working in government, (social policy), NGO’s and worked in academia at Tec de Monterrey (Political Science- Social Development unit).  He brings his international, interdisciplinary and pedagogical experience, and recently has worked with Moura Quayle to create the Liu Institute Policy Studio, seeking to expand the scope of the strategic design method and its applications to impact the policy realm. Currently Policy Studio has worked with UBC’s Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs projects, with UBC’s VP Research for the UBC Enhancing KMb report, and with Science Po (France) for the Vancouver-Paris Resilient Cities Challenge.

Shirley Ho, web-master and graphics whiz for the d.studio. She is covering website management, website branding, social media and event promotion. Shirley is a fourth year Science student majoring in Cognitive Systems in the Computational Intelligence & Design Stream.  While a big part of her major involves learning about machine and human interaction, she is primarily interested in user interface design.  Working with the d.studio fits well with Shirley’s interests in creating user friendly websites and graphic design. Her creative and technological skills merge outside the academic setting in a love for photography.

Ronald Kellett is a Professor of Landscape Architecture who has spent many hours with Moura molding the d.studio class into its interactive, engaging format. He holds degrees in environmental studies and architecture. He has practiced and taught architecture in British Columbia and Oregon. Since the 1990s, his work has focused on issues of environmental quality and urban form as well as the development of related form-based decision support tools for urban design. His research, consulting and writing has influenced patterns of urban growth and development in several Canadian and US cities. It has also contributed to the adoption of ‘green’ urban design processes, plans, codes, standards, guidelines and prototypes. His work has won awards from the American Planning Association, the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects, the U.S. National Association of Home Builders and U.S. National Urban and Community Forest Advisory Council.

PREVIOUS TEAM MEMBERS

Denise Withers co-founder and former design strategist.  Her primary role was to lead action research initiatives that advance the theory and practice of strategic design – with the ultimate goal of helping people co-create solutions to complex problems.  Her portfolio included strategic design projects for external organizations across public, private and social sectors, as well as curriculum innovation at UBC. Before joining Sauder, Denise ran her own business in media production and educational design for 20 years, specializing in story-based research and appreciative design.  As an international award-winning documentary filmmaker, she has led projects on four continents in tough environments for a diverse clientele that includes: CIDA, IDRC, NASA, United Nations, David Suzuki Foundation, UBC, SFU, Nortel, DND, Natural Resources, Parks and Fisheries & Oceans Canada: as well as major media chains (Discovery Channel, CBC & CanWest national newspapers).

Andréanne Doyon was the d.studio’s full-time Research Assistant. She has a MA in Urban Planning and a BA in Sociology and Asian Studies from UBC as well as her LEED GA accreditation. Later this year she will start her PhD at the University of Melbourne School of Design. Andréanne is interested in the interactions between humans and the environments that we create as well as cultural sustainability. The studio fits well with her interests in learning and teaching. She likes introducing people to different ways of thinking and new experiences. Beyond the academic setting, Andréanne used to ski race competitively, and has also coached and heli-skied.

Florin Gheorghe was the Teaching Assistant for the d.studio course in January 2012. He is in the first year of a Masters in Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, and juggles interests in healthcare innovation, creativity, and international development. In his BASc, also at UBC, Florin spent eight months in Ghana running a start-up, non-profit manufacturing company that connected dollar-a-day mechanics with multinational mining companies. Today, Florin spends most of his time (when not TA-ing) in scrubs and latex gloves, observing surgeons in their natural habitat, and trying to find disruptive solutions to health care challenges around the world.

Daniel Gipps was the Project Manager for the team for 2011-2012. He is a fourth year Arts student at UBC majoring in Economics.  Daniel’s wide range of academic interests most recently includes public policy, especially macroeconomic policy surrounding central banks. Daniel enjoys the challenge of taking what first appear simply as ideas and fleshing them out, estimating what it will take to get them done, and then getting them done.  A random fact about Daniel outside the work setting is that he competed in the B.C. Summer Games in archery.

Veronique West was the second Communications Officer for the d.studio. She is wrote, edited and published updates and articles for the studio’s website, produced copy for its communications products, and managed its social media presence and other related media. She is currently a first-year UBC student in the Arts One interdisciplinary program. She plans to major in Creative Writing with a particular focus on playwriting. In her spare time she writes online articles and helps assimilate archival data for Prism Literary Magazine, while developing an original play, Intrusion, for the 2012 Vancouver Fringe Festival. Her work with the d.studio allowed her to hone and apply her professional writing and media skills while contributing to her school’s diverse ecology.

Andrew Young was the original d.studio Coordinator. His tasks included logistics, scheduling, events and day-to-day communications. He is a fourth year Commerce student with a major in Marketing and Transportation and Logistics.  Andrew’s interests lie in market research and management consulting. Andrew’s interests lie in market research and management consulting. Beyond this he is also interested in teaching, tennis, golf and hiking. He feels the Sauder Studio provides an opportunity to contribute to the learning experience of his peers and is a great way to lend his expertise to help operations run smoothly.

Joey Young conducted research on students in the d.studio class. He is a Commerce Undergraduate Scholar working on research in behavioural economics. He is in his third year majoring in Finance.  He studies finance because he enjoys the quantitative side of corporations and capital markets. He is also very interested in economics, particularly game theory and strategy.  Working with the studio fits well with Joey’s interest in the way people think and behave. He will be completing field studies on how people make decisions in the context of the studio’s focus on design thinking.  Outside academia, you might find Joey religiously following baseball scores.