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Hilary Jay joins SEGD as the new Director of Education
Although Hilary has been working with SEGD since September 2019, she has now assumed the official role of SEGD Director of Education, effective January 2020.
Apart from being refreshingly outgoing, humorous, and dedicated, Hilary Jay is an award-winning journalist, marketer, and serial entrepreneur, nationally known for founding the first American multi-day design festival, DesignPhiladelphia, in 2005. And for those who have a terrific memory, Hilary actually served as a juror for the 2014 SEGD Global Design Awards. "That's when I fell in love with SEGD," Hilary says. "The multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary approach designers employ for problem solving, and to educate next generation designers, parallels current cultural shifts from service to experience economy."
As Director of Education, Hilary will be responsible for developing meaningful educational experiences for all audiences of SEGD's programs, with the purpose of advancing the organization’s mission to "educate, connect and inspire." Additionally, she will act as a voice for advancing experience design and education in the EGD field, for promoting the development of a diverse EGD workforce, and for developing impact measures for the field.
Hilary's work has been devoted to both non-profit and for-profit enterprises: writing about, curating, speaking about, teaching, and promoting design and designers regardless of discipline. She was a Senior Fellow at University of the Arts where she taught Professional Practices, Event Production, and Innovation. For a decade, she was founding director and curator of Philadelphia University's Design Center (now Thomas Jefferson University) where she mounted international exhibitions such as What Is Design Today? featuring work by Pentagram's Paula Scher, Karim Rashid, Google, Stefan Sagmeister, among many others.
"Design is the single thread that runs through everything," she says. "Everyone is essentially a designer, making decisions hundreds of times each day. From the ways we express ourselves visually to the paths we travel, the things we surround ourselves with and experiences we select to enjoy, everything is about design."
Most recently, Hilary was principal with Blackbird Partners, consulting on brand development and growth strategies for Econsult Solutions, Thomas Jefferson University & Hospital; The Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation; and the cities of Baltimore and Philadelphia. Her determination and leadership will be in ample supply for her new role with SEGD.
With a new year and the turn of a new decade, SEGD is motivated to enhance and provide invaluable resources to our community. That starts with hiring dedicated staff to help further our mission of connecting people to place.
Please join us in welcoming Hilary! We are excited to have you on board.
