David A. Muyres

David Muyres most recently held the position of Vice President, Educational Initiatives, for Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. In this capacity, Muyres was responsible for developing new strategic offerings for the college. These ranged from educational programs targeted to business executives in order to demonstrate the value of creative process and design thinking, to ArtCenterPRO, a unique program in which companies, as sponsors, collaborate with Art Center students to create real-world design solutions. Muyres was also responsible for masterminding and directing the Art Center’s Summits, a series of unique annual events focused on sustainable mobility (www.artcenter.edu/summit). The summits have brought together global business, technology, design and governmental leaders to discuss the future of sustainable transportation—they explore creative new systems and business models that inspire people to think differently about how we all move around the planet.

Prior to joining Art Center in 2005, Muyres worked at Johnson Controls Inc. (JCI), where he held various functional and executive management positions within the automotive division in the United States, Europe and Asia. As Vice President of Design and Consumer Research in Germany, he helped create JCI’s European Design Center. In Japan, he served as Vice President and General Manager for all Product and Business Development. During his tenure at JCI, he received six patents. Muyres grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He studied mechanical engineering and philosophy at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, and graduated from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, with a Bachelor of Science in Transportation Design.

Muyres has spoken about the future of mobility at events around the world and currently advises for other mobility-related events and organizations such as the University of Michigan’s SMART and its annual mobility conference; Opportunity Green’s annual business and sustainability conference; and Pasadena Sustainable Transportation Action Committee (PASTAC), a sustainable mobility organization led by CALSTART. In December 2008, Muyres was asked to provide testimony on the future of the automotive industry to the Congressional Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, chaired by Rep. Edward J. Markey. Muyres also acts as a design advisor to various start-up mobility and transportation companies and is assisting in the creation of the new Center for Innovation and Applied Design in Michigan.

Muyres has a profound interest in bringing the best and brightest minds together to re-envision the transportation industry. He strives to leverage his global industry experience, creative approach and the power of his broad network to develop solution-minded partnerships committed to creating more efficient ways of moving people and goods around the planet. Muyres recently joined forces with HuntGreen LLC in Washington, D.C., to further integrate sustainable mobility solutions into newly emerging national policy.

Geoff Wardle

Geoff Wardle is Director of Advanced Mobility Research at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. Wardle is also part of the managing team that has been planning and delivering Art Center’s “Designing Sustainable Mobility” series of summits (www.artcenter.edu/summit), the first of which was held in February 2007.

With a bachelor’s degree in mechanical and vehicle engineering from the University of Hertfordshire (UK) and a master’s degree in automotive design from the Royal College of Art in London, Wardle has had extensive experience as a professional vehicle designer across four continents. Although he remains interested in the culture of cars, Wardle’s career as a designer in the automotive industry caused him to become increasingly concerned about the future sustainability of personal mobility and transportation in general.

With more than a decade of full-time involvement with Art Center’s Transportation Design department in California and in Europe, Wardle has continually advocated for transportation designers to become far more concerned and involved with the many other disciplines that make up mobility in its entirety, particularly in the urban environment.

His deeply held interests focus on the role that designers can play in helping developed and developing economies transition gracefully from an unsustainable level of consumerism, to compelling, ecologically and economically sustainable economies that focus on a high quality of individual experience, comfort and reward. Within this broad horizon, he is committed to leading opinion and expertise on the future of mobility and transportation and to serving as a valuable resource for industry or government. He sees that the approaches to innovation, creativity and research that designers use are highly effective for other disciplines and activities.

As Director of Advanced Mobility Research at Art Center College of Design, Wardle lectures and leads investigations into all kinds of transportation in conjunction with students and faculty. Research projects focus on balancing the needs and expectations of transportation consumers with valid business and technology parameters through systems thinking and awareness. Research projects have included the future of urban bus travel (Santa Monica Big Blue Bus Company), new categories of personal commuting vehicles, personal rapid transit (PRT) systems and holistic approaches to urban development and integrated transportation systems.

Aside from his role as a researcher and educator, Geoff Wardle works with select vehicle companies as an external advisor on futurist and design strategies. In December 2008, he testified on the future of the automotive industry before the Congressional Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, chaired by Rep. Edward J. Markey. Wardle has been called as an expert witness on design-related patent infringement cases and served on the board of advisors for the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE. Wardle is frequently invited to speak at conferences and symposiums related to the future of transportation and the automotive industry. He has also spoken about these topics on National Public Radio.

White Paper Acknowledgments:

During the course of writing the Futurama 2.0 white paper, a number of significant people offered their advice, insight, wisdom, feedback and support. We would like to acknowledge and thank the following for their invaluable investment of time, energy and trust: